The Alternate of Haruhi Suzumiya
by Cloud802
Summary: The Esper smirked, "Theoretically, it is possible for this alternate universe to be almost an exact copy of ours, but I was surprised. This is a once in a lifetime chance Kyon." Itsuki's words only made it worse. Haruhi/Kyon Haruki/Kyonko COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Summary: "Theoretically, it is possible for this alternate universe to be almost an exact copy of ours, but I was surprised. This is a once in a lifetime chance Kyon." Itsuki's words only made it worse. Haruhi/Kyon Haruki/Kyonko

Chapter 1: The SOS Brigade

I tried to resist... I really did...

The fact that I was standing in the middle of the deserted literary club in no way meant that I was appeasing Haruki's crazy antics. In fact, I was totally against them.

It all started a couple of days ago.

Questioning that I believed in something, questioning reality, it had been a favorite passtime of mine when I was little, but as time drug on and I made it through the various grades of school, I began to get a little standoffish about these things. It started when I entered junior high I suppose, science fiction novels and manga no longer captured my imagination, the wierd and the insane no longer appealed to me, and I was content to just cruise through life. My plans were simple, go to college, find a career I enjoyed, and marry a man that I loved.

Normal...

Grey...

**Boring.**

Until I meant _him._

Haruki Suzumiya.

Now, Suzumiya-san wasn't exactly what you would call a normal person.

"Kyonko, why don't you stand up and introduce yourself?" asked Mr. Okabe.

My eyebrow twitched in slight annoyance at the stupid nickname. How my little brother had somehow spread it around the world was beyond my understanding. Everyone called me Kyonko, my parents, my friends, AND my teachers.

I figured arguing the point would do me no good, so I stood and smiled, hoping to make a good first impression, "Hello everyone, there's really not much to say. My father moved here with his career, and I ended up coming to this school. I hope I can get along with everyone and we can have a good school year."

Apparantly my charms did not go unnoticed, as the entire class started to applaud.

"Now," continued Mr. Okabe, moving on to whoever was sitting behind me, "Haruki Suzumiya, your turn."

The chair shifting as Haruki stood made an annoying squeeking noise, and as I sat down something was forcefully shoved into the palm of my hands. It looked like a pair of earphones.

Bright...

Yellow...

Shiny earphones...

I could hear rock music faintly coming from the small speakers, and as I looked behind me I caught my first sight of him.

Standing tall and proud, a determined glare set straight for our teacher. His school uniform was mussed, a loose tie, an untucked shirt, and two buttons at the top left undone. Suddenly, my grey world was holding color.

I couldn't help but feel a little heat rise to my face... until he opened that big mouth of his.

"Now listen here!" he shouted loudly, "If any of you are time travelers, aliens, ESPers, or sliders, you better just come out and say it right now! Because I'm not interested in anything else!"

An awkward silence followed.

Now I should take this moment to pause and clarify, I had heard rumors of Suzumiya-san around the school, but this little spout of insanity still surprised the crap out of me. Who did this boy think he was? Dr. Who?

The teacher was baffled, he didn't know what to say.

When no one responded to his little outburst he was content to sit back down and cross his arms with a small, "Hmph."

I held up the ear phones and let a slight smirk travel across my lips, "Did you want these back any time soon Suzumiya-san?"

The disgruntled student merely frowned, looking to the side as if making to ignore me. I plopped the earphones on my head and the rock music blared into my ears. I took one of the phones off and tucked it behind my ear, "So that was a joke right? That whole thing with ESPers and time travelers and stuff? My names Kyonko."

Great, now I was even introducing myself with that dumb nickname.

It seemed my attempt to capture his attention was not to end in failure. His arms uncrossed and he smirked, "Well, would you happen to know anything about that stuff?" he asked, getting slightly excited.

"I wouldn't say that I've ever seen any proof on the matter," I said, not quite agreeing or disagreeing with him, "But it is an interesting subject I suppose."

People around the class were giving me strange looks, some shaking their heads in dissapointment, I rolled my eyes, ignoring them and plowing on, "But suppose they did exist," I continued, "It would be a one in a million chance of finding them. There are billions upon billions of people that live on this planet, and something like an esper or an alien would be an extremely uncommon thing. How would you go about locating one, especially since they'd most likely want to remain hidden?"

Haruki frowned at this and rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful for a moment.

If he wasn't so crazy, I'd probably ask him out on a date.

"You raise a good point," he conceded, but then his determined glare returned, "However, it is my mission to seek such things out. Normal life, normal friends, I'm not meant for it. It's all just boring."

This conversation would go on for what seemed like forever, and I found myself not even paying attention in class anymore.

I don't even know why I ended up talking to him in the first place...

It was later in the day when I would hold a conversation with my two friends on the roof, Taniguchi and Kunikida.

"I heard he's a total weirdo," whispered Taniguchi, brow furrowing, almost as if she was concentrating on something.

I laughed lightly, "This coming from someone like you?"

Taniguchi pouted, "I'm serious Kyonko. Apparantly, the last school he went to, a beautiful girl asked him out, and he totally dumped her five days later."

I rolled my eyes, "That's normal, happens all the time."

Kunikida interrupted, "Apparantly he hasn't had a relationship that has lasted more than a week."

"So he's a jerk," I said with a shrug, "Big deal, there's tons of them."

Taniguchi and Kunikida looked at each other, both frowining, and Kunikida ran a hand through her hair. "It's not normal Kyonko, when he dumped them, he was always shouting about how he didn't have time for normal humans."

I frowned, then why in the world was he talking to me?

I looked to the right, down below at the baseball field at the side of the school, and I caught sight of Haruki, scaling the large fence at the end of the field with what looked like a radio on his back, what the hell was he doing? It makes sense that girls would try to date him, he was quite the looker, but his personality ruined him completely.

Yet something was driving me to hold conversation with him.

Taniguchi interupted my thoughts, "So how do you do it?"

I looked at my friend and raised an eyebrow, "How do I do what?"

"Don't play dumb with me, I saw the smirks he tossed at you when you two were talking in class, it's getting ridiculous. He must think you're an alien or something because all you had to do was bat your eyes and he was staring at you for the rest of the period!"

I frowned, I wouldn't go so far as staring.

"Well he was!" shouted Taniguchi.

"I'm just talking to him," I said with a shrug, "It's not like I do anything special."

"Uh huh, I'm onto your feminine wiles Kyonko."

I frowned, "What is your malfunction Tani-chan?"

"I told you not to call me that!!"

-------

"Pass down the basket and draw your new seat assignments."

I took the basket in my hand and rushed to draw the little piece of paper out. I smirked when I realized my new seat was by the window, the second to last seat in the back of the class. I couldn't help but breathe a small sigh of relief.

Good bye forever Haruki.

A few minutes later saw me with my face buried in my arms.

This had to be some kind of weird twist of fate.

Some cosmic coincidence.

The smirking idiot was still in the seat behind me, "So Kyonko," he said slyly, "What do you really think about the whole thing?"

I raised my head up and sighed, "What whole thing?"

"About me being crazy. I know the rumors being tossed around about me, and it doesn't surprise me one bit."

I had to admit, he had a certain kind of charm about him.

I mentally slapped myself, get a hold of yourself woman!

"Well..." I paused, "All great people in history were different from the norm, Albert Einstien, Da Vinci, Steven Hawking. They all revolutionized the world in thier own way because they were 'strange'. However, they also had something else, they were geniuses. Normal High school kids like us should just worry about trying to pass and get through our lives." I turned my body slightly to look at Haruki again, and his smirk had disappeared. He was now glaring out the window. What did I do to piss him off?

"That's not enough," he said firmly, "It will never be enough. That life isn't for me."

I turned back and bit my bottom lip. There was something seriously wrong with this guy.

It seemed that all he could do was talk about the paranormal, while I was just a simple high school girl trying to make it through life.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, especially since the nuisance was yanking on my ponytail. I turned and narrowed my eyes. It seemed to have no effect, "That's it!"

"What's it?"

"If aliens, espers, and time travelers won't come to me, then I'll go looking for them!"

I blushed when I realized the whole class was staring. Before I hadn't cared much, but now it was just plain embarrasing. "Suzumiya-san, maybe you should calm down a little."

"No!" he shouted, "It's so simple I can't believe I didn't realize it before." He loomed over me, "Come with me Kyonko!"

"Wha..."

Before I had realized what was happening, I felt a gust of air rush through my hair, and a sudden inexplicable warmth. My initial reaction was the heat rushing to my face, and then I realized what had actually happened. Haruki Suzumiya had swept me up from my chair and was now dashing me out of the room...

bridal style.

"Put me down!" I shouted, "You're going to get us in trouble running out of class like that!"

It appeared that he did not hear me, or was just plain ignoring me. A huge grin was plastered on his face as he dashed me through the halls to God knows where.

The fact that I had ended up with this troublesome boy was more than enough for me to handle. Whatever deity that lived in the sky must have suddenly decided, 'Hey, that girl looks like she has a boring life, let's torture her and spice it up a little.'

I LIKED my boring life thank you very much, and I wanted it back.

These inner monologues of mine really need to stop, I have a seriously bad habit of talking to myself, especially since I was currently in the midst of being sexually assaulted.

I opened my mouth to shout another complaint, but it appeared my feet were already on the ground. "Okay," he said, still with that goofy grin.

I looked at my surroundings, it appeared we had stopped in the stairwell, "And where are we exactly?" I asked.

"This is where I go to think."

"The stairwell?"

He yanked his ear phones off and bopped me on the head with them, "That's beside the point. I'm going to make a club!"

"A club?"

"Yeah, and it'll be dedicated to finding things like aliens, espers, and time travelers. We need to get a clubroom."

A small protest rose in my throat. We? Since when had this involved the word we? Last time I checked I wasn't about to take part in the crazy schemes going through this guys head, yet here I was...

In the stairwell...

My protest suddenly died, "Just do whatever you want," I grumbled, bringing a hand to my face.

---------

I tried to resist... I really did...

The fact that I was standing in the middle of the deserted literary club in no way meant that I was appeasing Haruki's crazy antics. In fact, I was totally against them.

It all started a couple of days ago.

When I had foolishly spoken to the boy known as Haruki Suzumiya.

"The literary club was going to be shut down if no one joined," he explained to me, opening the door to a very blank room. In the center of the room sat a long table with a single chair, in that chair sat a light haired boy about our age with glasses, flipping through the book in his hands quietly, "He was the one that joined."

"Yuuki Nagato," said the boy quietly.

"And he's okay with this?"I asked sceptically.

"It's fine," said Yuuki.

"But are you sure about this? You'll probably get booted out."

"Yes."

I sighed heavily, obviously my last ditch effort had not succeeded in detering Haruki's will. "Then it's decided!" he shouted, "This will be our club room, hold on a second, I'll be right back!"

He disappeared as quickly as we had entered, and not but a minute later he dragged in a very cute and very frightened looking red haired girl, "This will be our mascot!" he shouted joyfully, "I always go through the building on lunch breaks to find cute girls, and you just can't get any cuter than this!"

You have a very sick mind Haruki Suzumiya.

"I don't know what's going on," said the girl timidly, looking around the room in fright. Her eyes landed on Nagato-san, and some of the fright vanished, "Oh, I see. Okay, then, I'll join your club." She spoke so quietly it was hard to hear what she said, and I instantly felt sorry for her, "I'm Asahina Mikuru."

"You are one sick puppy Suzumiya!" I shouted, "First me and then her! Are you some sort of rapist or something?!"

He smirked and chuckled, as if I had made a joke, "She's not the only thing I've got. I've decided on a name for this club!"

Oh no.

Attention world!

The name for the secret club borrowing the literary room is about to be revealed!

"SOS Brigade!"

My stomach did a backflip, "S... O... S?"

"_**S**__ave the World by __**O**__verloading it with Fun __**S**__uzumiya Haruki's Brigade."_

Please tell me he was joking.

Please tell me I would wake up any minute now to my little brother bouncing on my back.

My first week at high school, and my life had already been ruined.

Why did he drag me into this?

Dammit I've gotta stop this inner monologue.


	2. Chapter 2

Cloud: Thanks for the reviews. Now, I'm bringing Haruhi and the others into this very soon. You see, I had a sudden urge, I wanted to write not only what Haruhi would be like if shoved in the gender blender, but I also wanted to write an alternate universe storyline with lots of trouble for BOTH SOS Brigades.

So this is the product.

As for the reason Asahina-chan is still female, all will be revealed in time dear readers.

Chapter 2: Aliens

It had been about a week since Haruki had formed the SOS Brigade, and a lot strange had happened, sure, but we had yet to encounter any aliens, time travelers, or espers. I mentioned that I enjoyed my life being boring, and that had not changed.

So why was I continuing this charad?

I tried to find the will to turn around in the hallway and leave the school, but my feet continued to carry me towards the clubroom. Haruki had picked up various things laying around the school to liven up the room. A couple of shelves and filing cabinets adorned the right wall, and more chairs surrounded the long table, as well as a book shelf to the left. I frowned, Maybe Haruki did think of other people. I turned my attention back to the table to see Nagato reading calmly as usual, no expression on his face. "Yo," I said calmly.

He looked up momentarily from his book and placed a finger on his glasses, pushing them up to the bridge of his nose, "Hello... Kyonko."

Then he returned to reading his book. What the hell was this guy? Some sort of robot?

I walked in and sat across from Nagato, resting my chin on the palm of my hand, "Watcha reading?" He held up the book he was reading. I could tell it was about robots and aliens just by looking at it. Perhaps that explained his current behavior. "Seems like something Haruki would be interested in."

When he didn't speak again I frowned, so what, just gonna ignore me? I was distracted by the sound of the club door opening. Mikuru Asahina timidly stepped into the room in a maid outfit. Now what I couldn't understand is how Haruki got her to wear the damn thing. He walked in one day with the outfit and declared loudly that Asahina-san was to wear the outfit at all club meetings. For some odd reason... she had complied.

Little did I know, I was soon to be victimized as well.

I remembered reading Da Vinci code when I was little. It gave me a rush of excitement unlike any other. I know it sounds dumb, but the conspiracy unraveling throughout that book made my heart stop several times. My heart stopping.

That's what happened when...

The door to the club room slammed open, shaking almost the entire school grounds, "Your fearless leader has arrived!! We've got a lot to do today. Brigade members number 1 and 3!" he shouted, pointing to me and Asahina-san, "You're coming with me to the computer lab next door, we're gonna get a computer."

That stupid red band on his arm, 'Brigade Chief'? Sure.

I didn't like the way this was headed at all.

"You mean steal one?"

He frowned and walked towards me quickly.

Okay, way too close for comfort.

There was that damn heat in my face again, "Kyon-chan," he said, a slight note of mischief in his voice, "Are you disobeying your brigade chief?" When I didn't answer he frowned, "PENALTY!"

It felt like one of my ear drums busted.

I was more worried about the fact that he picked me up as he had a week ago. I frowned, wondering why I never fought back, "You can put me down now Haruki."

This guy was horrible, he was bossy, pushy, arrogant, and completely perverted, "No way!" he shouted, "I need two cute faces to accompony me, otherwise those computer geeks will be all stingy, and I'd have to do something drastic!"

The sudden urge to do something drastic arose in my mind as well. I saw Haruki's lifeless body, blood dripping from his throat.

Before I could protest further we were already out the door and heading to the computer club.

Needless to say what followed was extremely embarrasing. Haruki kicked open the door to the computer club with me, still blushing like crazy, in his arms. It looked like some ridiculous scene out of a romance manga, so it was only natural for a few of the computer geeks to get nose bleeds. I frowned when one of them pointed at me shakily, blood dripping down his face, "So... Tsundere."

This was getting ridiculous, "Haruki, put me down!"

He complied with the request, but before I knew it he grabbed my hand and drug me to the middle of the room in the center of all the computer desks, Asahina following timidly behind us, "We, the SOS Brigade, are in need of a computer!"

The most couragous out of the bunch, most likely the leader, stood tall in front of Haruki, "And what makes you think you can just come in here making demands like you own the place?"

Haruki grinned.

Oh crap.

He grabbed the hand of the club leader and pulled me closer.

Thinking about it... It was probably the shock of the moment that had both the computer club leader and I frozen solid. It wasn't like I was gonna hurt the poor sap, after all, it was Haruki's fault that we were in such a predicament in the first place. Thinking about it further, Asahina-san's timid scream was piercingly loud.

Currently, the club leader's hand was in a place I'd rather it naught have been.

If I kept blushing at the rate I was going, I was sure to end up like those poor saps with nose bleeds.

The click of a camera brought me out of my thoughts, and I was surprised to see Haruki taking pictures of the leader groping my chest. I was gonna kill him.

Before I could protest he had shoved us both down on the ground and pulled Asahina-san over to join the party. Several more clicks from the camera followed, and Haruki's grin was only growing wider and wider.

"NOW!" Shouted Haruki cheerfully, finally pulling a crying Asahina up and leaving me on the floor to rot. My eyebrow twitched when he continued, "If you don't give me one of your computers, I'm going to mail these pictures of you molesting our poor moe club members."

I was moe?

"No!" shouted the leader, standing up and jumping for the camera that Haruki was holding above his head, "That's no fair, you forced us to molest these poor girls!"

Damn that sounded cheesy, these guys played way too many H games.

"Hmm, I don't know about that," said Haruki skeptically, "From where I'm standing, it looks like the whole club wants to gang rape these girls!"

Why was I doing nothing to stop this sad excuse for blackmail? Especially since those were pictures of ME on that camera.

-------

"Kyonko, you get to set up our website!"

"Why me?"

"Because you do nothing but stand around in the club room, you need to help the SOS Brigade! You were there when I created it. If I were to die, you would have to take my place as Brigade Chief."

Maybe when pigs flew.

"Another phenomonan, the flying pig!"

Wait, did he just...

"We need to hand out flyers."

Before I could protest he had shoved a handful of flyers into my hand, proclaiming the SOS Brigade and its ultimate purpose. "BUT," he continued, "People aren't just going to take these flyers on a whim, we need something to catch their eye!"

Then he reached under the table and pulled up two shopping bags.

That feeling I got in my gut whenever my world was about to be tipped upside down? When Haruki stood and introduced himself, when he got the idea for the club, dragging poor Nagato and Asahina into it, as well as myself, when I was unwillingly appointed his 'second in command', when I was used to frame the computer club leader for blackmail.

Nothing, not a bit of it...

Compared to what he pulled out of those bags.

"No," I said flatly, "I refuse."

How I ended up in that situation was beyond me, especially after my refusal. For some odd and unbeknownst reason I found myself outside of the school in a black bunny outfit that was showing off more than just my face. A red bunny stood next to me, sobbing uncontrolably, "Look at these flyers please," she said quietly.

I frowned, didn't I say I wouldn't do this about twenty minutes ago?

"HEY!"

Uh oh, Mr. Okabe was running towards us at top speed.

"Kyonko!" he shouted when he finally reached us, "What would your parents think?"

I know exactly what my parents would think, but that was besides the point, I opened my mouth,

"It's all Haruki's fault..."

But for some reason, those words never quite reached my mouth. What did I care if the doofus got expelled and arrested for sexual harrasment? I didn't give a crap... did I?

"We're advertising for our new club," I said simply, trying to shield Asahina-san from the gathering stares. "We go around solving mysteries and having fun in the student body."

It wasn't a complete lie.

Mr. Okabe scratched his cheek, "Well, I think you girls need to go inside and change."

No argument there Mr. Okabe.

Another half hour later saw Asahina-san and I back in the comfort of our school uniforms, but the poor girl still looked like she had been through hell.

"Dammit!" shouted Haruki, slamming his fists on the table, "Those stupid teachers ruin everything!"

"It's only to be expected," I said, "With outfits like those you're going to attract more than just students."

"Whatever, I'm going home, you're all dismissed." He walked out the door, angrily slamming it in his wake.

Nagato-san stood and shut his book. He looked at me for a good long moment, "What?"

He set the book down on the table and looked back up at me, "I'm lending this to you," he said simply, emotionless as always, "Please... read it."

--------

Needless to say, I was surprised at what I found in the book, instead of Nagato-san's bookmark, it was a small folded piece of paper. When I opened it up I wasn't expecting what I found.

_Kyonko,_

_Meet me tonight at the nearby park. Second bench from the entrance._

_Nagato._

Weren't these kinds of things supposed to wait until White day? I shrugged it off for the next day. The clubroom activities were limited to Haruki complaining, Nagato reading, Asahina brewing the best tea I've ever tasted in her maid outfit, and myself working on that blasted website that Haruki had pretty much accosted me into making.

Sometimes I wondered why I never stood up to the jerk.

When Nagato slammed his book shut the meeting was officially over, I headed home to change into something more comfortable. On my way home my thoughts invaded my mind, did Nagato-san really have a crush on me, or was this something else entirely? It was hard to tell with him sometimes, and I didn't hang out with him too often, it was mostly the crazy guy that ended up dragging me around. Then again, it would make sense since Nagato-san was always the silent type. After changing into jeans and a shirt I talked to my mom and told her I was going to see a friend of mine at the park. She kind of smirked, which made me uneasy, "Okay," she said gently, "Just be back by ten."

It was then that my little brother bounded into the room with a huge grin plastered on his face, "Kyonko's got a boyfriend!" he shouted loudly.

My eyebrow twitched and I decided to leave him to his own imaginitave devices.

The park was quiet to say the least, and the sun was setting quickly. It was getting close to winter, so it was slightly chilly outside. I shivered lightly and pulled my arms together, trying to ignore the goosebumps that popped up on my skin.

"Kyonko-san."

I turned to the emotionless voice and saw Nagato walking towards me, slowly yet deliberately. "Nagato-san, I said politely."

"Follow me." He turned and began to walk in the opposite direction.

"Um... where are we going?"

"My room."

I bit my bottom lip, "Um, Nagato-san, no offense, but... have you ever had a girlfriend?"

He paused and turned to face me once more, "Girlfriend?"

Oh boy.

"Normally... when a boy invites a girl back to his room, or even the other way, it means..."

"Procreation." He said it like it was the simplest thing in the world.

My face lit up like a Christmas light, "Um..."

"That is not the reason I have called you here, follow me."

I let out a sigh and did as he asked. If he didn't call me here because of that, then the letter held another purpose, he wanted to tell me something... something important enough to call me out here at night.

His apartment building wasn't far from the park, and it was an extremely quiet walk. In fact, I don't even think Nagato's feet touched the ground, it was almost like he was floating... creepy. Haruki would get a kick out of me acting this way, the jerk.

Before I knew it we were in an elevator and heading to his room. It was a large room, yet simple at the same time, with a small table in the living area, and a spotless kitchen. In fact, the whole place was spotless.

"Have a seat, I brewed some tea."

"Thank you," I said gratefully, pushing my shoes off at the door and walking to the table before kneeling next to it, "So what did you want to tell me?" I asked curiously.

He sat on the opposite side and poured us both a small cup of tea. "I am a human interface."

The fact that he said it like I should understand it made me uncomfortable, like it was simple as E=MC2, or x=ab.

Like it was a fact I should have come to on my own, "What your kind would call an alien."

"An alien?"

This was a surprising development. Haruki would definately get a kick out of this.

He continued as if my confusion were simply a second handed matter. "The integrated thought entity controls me. Originally, when Earth was created, it held no interest to the Integrated Thought Entity, but with time humans evolved into a bipedal species capable of ammounts of intelligence. The planet was observed for some time in the hopes of gathering new data, though humans never actually broke out of the autoevolution process. Three years ago, an incident occured on this Earth, a fluctuation in data the likes of which has never been seen before."

Simply impossible.

Ridiculous.

"At the center of this incident was Haruki Suzumiya. We began to observe him. Humans are never able to influence the data around them, the simple fact that Suzumiya-san is capable of this is a reason to observe him."

"So you're saying he is an evolutionary leap or something? That's ridiculous, how do you expect me to believe something like this?"

He continued, "For a reason unknown to the integrated thought entity, Suzumiya-san chose you."

"Chose... me?"

"It is unknown whether this will play a factor in future events. However, something else of concern happened very recently directly after the SOS Brigade was created."

"What's that?"

"Mikuru Asahina does not belong here."

He paused and let it sink in.

I still wasn't buying it.

"Asahina-san, what about her?"

"Her data does not match with her surroundings, it is this simple."

Right... simple.

"Suppose I believed you, why did Haruki pick me? And what the hell am I supposed to do."

Nagato pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, "Asahina-san is an unknown factor in this matter, but your involvment is undeniable."

I didn't expect the quiet bookworm types were this crazy.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Stranger and Stranger

What Nagato-san told me the night before was playing through my head over and over again. An alien. Not that I believed him or anything, but the simple fact that he told me such a thing was very surprising. It was a wonder that boy wasn't living with his parents, being as mentally unstable as he was.

I did my daily treck to North High up the steepest part of the hill. It had become such a part of my daily routine that it didn't even bother me anymore.

Besides, I had other things to worry about when it came to being bothered, "Kyonko! Wait up."

And there was Taniguchi, running as fast as her puny little legs could carry her, "So," she said, almost completely out of breath by the time she had reached me, "What's going on between you and Suzumiya-san?"

Going on?

Let's see, first he kidnapped me from the classroom, then he made me help him form that stupid brigade, then he sexually harrased me through the leader of the computer club, and then I had to wear a bunny suit and explain myself to Mr. Okabe. What WASN'T going on? Well, obviously not what Taniguchi was thinking, "Nothing Tani-chan, you need to stop watching romantic comedies," I said simply.

She frowned, "I know there's something there, he STARES at you for crying out loud. He's never stared at girls before."

He would be quicker to chase an alien's skirt rather than ask me out on a date. Why did that irk me?

"You're hallucinating."

"No I'm not, I swear!"

Suddenly, a strange feeling rose. It was like I had just eaten something that didn't agree with me, "Tani-chan," I said slowly.

"What is it Kyonko?"

"Um... have we had this conversation before?"

"No, last time we had a conversation about Suzumiya-san it was on the roof of the school, remember? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Not particularly, but I did get the strongest feeling of deja vu that I had ever encountered in my life time. Furthermore, this past couple of weeks had been strange, and not just because Suzumiya-san was involved either.

I must have been going crazy. I tried to shake the feeling off and succeeded very little, "It's nothing," I said, putting on a fake smile, "C'mon, let's get to school."

Getting to class didn't see the feeling gone from me either. Haruki sat in his desk, head resting on his hand, staring out the window. I could hear the faint sound of his rock music blaring from his earphones as I approached him. When someone tapped me on the shoulder, I turned to see Ryou Asakura, resident class pretty boy, "Keep up what you're doing," he said gently, "Haruki hasn't had any friends almost his entire life... until you that is."

Friend? If you'd call being a friend what I've been through, then I guess, but I sure didn't. "I'm not really doing anything," I replied, "I just talk to him."

My stomach lurched again, and for some reason,every fiber of my being was telling me to stay as far away from Asakura as possible. "Um, I guess I'll be going now," I clarified, hurrying to my desk and breathing a sigh of relief.

That was strange, one minute I had been talking to him and the next I wanted to do nothing but get away from him, creepy.

I turned and yanked Haruki's earphones off before putting them on my own head and tucking a phone behind my ear. He glared at me, but said nothing, it had become a routine thing, "Haruki," I said softly, "I've been feeling... weird ever since I woke up this morning."

Excitement lit up his eyes, "Weird?" he asked, "Weird like how, like alien abduction weird?"

I would have scolded him, but I had grown so used to his behavior by this point that it didn't really matter to me anymore. "No," my voice lowered to a whisper. He looked disappointed until I continued, "Me and Taniguchi were talking on the hill to school, and I couldn't help but feel like I had that conversation with her already, but I haven't. Even walking into this class... everything seems familiar to me."

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmm." He brought his fingers to his chin in thought, "There can only be one explanation, a time anomoly."

"Wha..."

"Kyonko, are you from the future?"

"What the hell are you talking about Haruki, I'm not a time traveler."

He frowned and a strange look crossed his face. "You aren't the only one feeling the deja vu," he said honestly.

It was rare for Haruki to sound so dead serious. Granted he was dead serious twenty four seven, but this was different, "You have?"

"I know!" he shouted, "Today, after school, we'll split up and search the city for answers!"

I just had to open my big mouth, didn't I?

---------

Was it really worth it to say this was a waste of time when common sense clearly held that conclusion? "You and Asahina-san can take the west side," shouted Haruki with a grin, "Nagato and I will take the east!" We were supposed to be searching the city for strange happenings, especially the cause of our recent bout of extreme deja vu, but I take a moment to implore what it is we're searching for exactly.

I would ask Haruki, but he would scoff and say I was being dumb. Maybe Nagato-san would know, I found myself believing his tale little by little.

But alas, Haruki decided to stick me with Asahina-san. If that idiot had something perverted in mind he better have dropped it at the school gate because I didn't swing that way, no matter how incredibaly moe she was.

So that was it, instead of being stuck with the one person who could potentially enlighten me about the strange happenings, here I was.

Asahina looked up at me and smiled sheepishly, "So... what are we supposed to be doing again?"

We began walking aimlessly, and ended up in the very park that I had met Nagato at the other night. As we were walking Asahina looked like she wanted to say something, but the words fell flat at the last moment. I would have egged her on to tell me, but that would have probably traumatized the poor girl. It wasn't until we reached the river that she stopped walking and turned to me, "Kyonko, I have something to tell you."

No way. There's no way Haruki's perverted fantasies were coming to light, I wouldn't have it, I decided to take action and stop this here and now. I put a hand on her shoulder and frowned, "Asahina-san, what did Haruki do to make you do this?"

She looked confused, but I plowed on, "There are plenty of guys out there for you," I said reassuringly, "This is a path you don't need to go down, no matter what that jerk says. Don't do it Asahina-san, do NOT taint your purity."

An awkward silence followed.

Was my advice really that bad?

It was then I noticed that the girl was the color of a freshly ripe cherry, "It's not that at all!"

It was unlike Asahina-san to shout, so naturally it was surprising to me. It was then that I realized my mistake. If I looked at myself in the mirror right now I'd probably be twice as red as the timid girl standing in front of me. Asahina looked away and frowned deeply, "It's something of extreme importance, recent events have taken place that require you to be informed."

Now she was talking strangely. She walked to a nearby bench and sat down, twiddling her thumbs. I hesitated, but followed, sitting down next to her without a word. It was a good minute before she workedup the courage to speak, "I don't belong here."

Everything was falling into place, what Nagato-san had said the other night came flooding back.

"I'm not supposed to be in this universe," she said simply.

This had to be some kind of joke the brigade was pulling, right?

"I was sent here to look into a matter of grave importance. It appears that there is an anomoly surrounding Suzumiya-san."

Yet again, the eccentric, perverted, and crazy high school boy was at the center of things.

"I guess you could call me a slider," she said softly. "Traversing universes is not that difficult of a process, however, the risk that comes with it is substantial. Right now, there is another version of myself in this world, and if I were to run into them, the consequences could be disasturous."

"So why were you sent here?" I asked.

"Strange things are happening around Suzumiya-san, it all started three years ago in this universe."

Again with the three years. What happened three years ago?

"I was sent to investigate these discrepancies, and I was surprised to find Nagato-san there as well. The fact that the Integrated Data Entity takes any interest in Suzumiya-san at all was enough proof that he was the center of all this."

I frowned, "So he's a universal anomoly as well? What's my part in all this? Nagato-san said he 'chose' me and I still don't know why. I'm just a normal girl trying to grind her way through High School, there's nothing special about me, and until now there was nothing special about the people around me. Why am I here, talking to a supposed slider, when I should be at home studying... or dealing with my annoying little brother?"

She turned her head to face me, and with a gentle smile, she brought a finger to her mouth, "That's classified."

--------

"I can't believe you two didn't find anything, PENALTY!"

I frowned, "And what exactly did you and Nagato-san find."

Haruki's face blanked, and then he turned around and found it time wise to stare at the bus stop, with a glare on his face probably, "That's besides the point, we're going to search extra hard tomorrow, and we'll find something, I'm sure of it!"

He stormed off in the other direction, and I walked up to Nagato-san. His attention was focused on the retreating Haruki, but when I tugged his sleeve lightly he turned to look at me, "Yes?"

"About the other night," I said softly, "I think I'm starting to believe you."

-------

What happened next was unexpected, apparantly the fates had aligned perfectly to have this outcome.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Haruki slammed the door to the club room open, behind him stood a girl about my age with long light brown hair and the most plastic smile I had ever encountered. "This club needs a mystery transfer student, and this girl fits the role perfectly!" shouted Haruki.

The girl immidiately looked in my direction. Was I just imagining it or was her smile getting a bit too friendly, "Hello." Her voice was sophisticated to say the least, but I had a feeling that if I were forced to listen to it for long periods of time it would drive me insane. "I'm Koizumi Itsuko, nice to meet you all."

She says 'you all' while still staring at me of course. Can she even see when her eyes are squinted like that?

If one thing was for sure, the prescence of Koizumi was an unsettling thing, but it seemed that haruki was as happy as ever, most likely because he got another skirt to victimize with his perverted costumes. "I have to head back," said Haruki, "But you guys can get to know each other."

The door slammed behind Haruki.

I had an extremely bad feeling about this.

"Kyonko, right?" asked Itsuko, still with that plastic smile.

"Yeah," I said uneasily.

She walked to me and leaned down, holding out her hand for me to shake.

Your face is way too close.

Nevertheless, I shoke her hand and frowned, "Meet me out in the courtyard of the school in twenty minutes, we have certain things that need to be discussed."

Now I had a really bad feeling about this.

The courtyard was completely empty, save for the single soul that sat on a table under the shade of one of the trees, sipping from a cupwith a straw. I made my way over to Koizumi and sat down. There was a drink in the center of the table besides the one that she was holding, she pushed it towards me, passing it as an offer. I debated on whether or not to trust her intentions before simply shrugging and taking the cup. I sipped from it.

Hmmm...

Coffee.

"There's a reason I called you out here."

Nah, really?

Koizumi leaned over the table, and I made it a point to scoot back slightly, trying to avoid her stare. This was awkward. "It's about Suzumiya-san."

This again?

She sighed deeply and paused before continuing. "I suppose I might as well just get to the point. I am an esper."

I bit my tongue at the irony of this situation. Aliens, sliders, and espers, three of the things Haruki was looking for were under the SOS Brigade's roof, and he didn't even know it.

That is, of course, if all three were telling the truth.

"You see, Suzumiya-san is capable of bending the reality around him and creating things the way he wants them. He is unaware of this power, of course. It all happened three years ago. My collegues and I woke up, and wesuddenly discovered we had these powers. We knew that Haruki Suzumiya was at the center of it all."

"How did you come about this knowledge."

She shrugged as if it were a trivial matter, "We're not sure, we just suddenly knew. I have been sent by my collegues to observe Suzumiya-san. If his emotions become too unstable, there's a risk of this entire world as we know it being recreated. You see, Suzumiya-san's powers are close to what you would refer to as God."

This was getting ridiculous. First he was the next step in evolution, then he was a universal anomoly, and now he's just straight God?

"We are not sure, but the facts do line up. It is a theory mind you, but a very sound one, and the only one we could come up with. You could say that this world began three years ago."

"If that's so, then how come I have all these memories?"

"Again, simply a thoery."

"So what's my part in all this?" Perhaps I could get a straight answer out of this one.

"We're not sure."

Ooooor maybe not.

"Okay, if you're an ESPer, then prove it." I set my cup down and glared at her, "Reheat this cup of coffee."

"I can't do that," she said simply, "You see, in order for us to use our powers certain conditions have to be met. However, I believe these conditions will be met soon." She stood from her seat and smiled that same plastic smile, "Until then, you'll just have to take my word for it, Kyon-chan."

Who told you that you could call me that?

As she walked away my brain was reeling from had had happened over the past few days. Strange occurances were popping up everywhere. Even if they weren't telling the truth, what were the odds of getting three crazy people under one roof? Not exactly astronomical that's for sure. Maybe I should have gone to see a shrink, but then again, that probably wouldn't have helped.

Haruki Suzumiya, what have you gotten me into?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Proof is in the Pudding

Oddesyus was the oddball out by modern standards.

_The truth is... ponytails turn me on._

_Wha..._

The man goes on this huge journey to make it home, his faithful wife waiting for him the entire time, doing her best to ignore the ever increasing advances from the men around her.

_Back whenever you had that ponytail, it looked so good it was criminal!_

_Are you retarded?!_

On his journey, he beds himself with other women, quite a few times may I add.

And when he finally makes it home he kills the men who were courting his lovely wife.

The guy was a scumbag, I would have dumped him on the spot.

_**A girl, staring out the window, her short hair pulled back into a ponytail. I felt a smirk trace my lips.**_

My eyes snapped open, and by the time I noticed I was sleeping on the edge of the bed it was already too late. I fell the couple of feet and gritted my teeth in the pain that came with randomly falling out of one's bed. I stared up at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity. And one question came to my mind.

Why was that dream so damn familiar?

My usual trek to school was not plagued by Taniguchi's romantic ramblings that morning, and it was for the better, as the dream I just had still invaded my thoughts. I approached the school gate almost hesitantly. I tried to just shake my head, smile, and walk in, but I found it extremely difficult.

Ever since Haruki came into my life things were getting stranger every day, and I would be lying if I said it wasn't confusing me.

The shoe locker room was strangely quiet that day, despite the scuffling of various students retrieving their footwear. I opened my designated locker and was suprised by what I found. A folded piece of paper.

What the heck was the fascination with leaving notes in people's shoe lockers?

_Kyonko,_

_After school, Mr. Okabe's classroom._

Well that was pretty straightforward.

The day slugged by after that, and I couldn't find it in me to truly listen to Haruki's ramblings during class, the note was bugging me way too much. I immediately took to narrowing down the list, Nagato-san just would have let me borrow one of his many books. Asahina-san would probably write something on pretty looking stationary, and Haruki?

He would be more likely to pick me up and run off with me somewhere before screaming in my face what he wanted to tell me.

Isuko Koizumi?

After a moment of thought I shook my head, she would have whispered in my ear again most likely, her face way too close for my liking.

No, this was someone else entirely, and more, it obviously had nothing to do with the brigade.

"Hey, Kyon-chan, you listening?"

I turned and saw Haruki, a slightly frustrated frown on his face, "What is it Haruki?"

"I was just telling you I had a weird dream last night, I think I was abducted or something."

Why did he sound so excited about being carted off on an alien space ship?

"I remember, there were these huge blue giants, and there were these two people, I can't remember what they were doing though." Before I could answer he yanked on my ponytail.

I turned and glared, "What was that for?!"

He smirked, "I just noticed how nice your ponytail looks is all."

I blushed and turned back around, "So what was this dream?"

"I don't know, I want to find out though, those blue giants looked really interesting!"

Blue giants, two people?

It had to be a coincidence.

"Anyways!" he continued, "I've got some new outfits for Asahina-san to try!"

The day drew on, as well as the club meeting, and the note never left my mind once. Now that I had eliminated the possibility of it being one of the brigade my curiosity was getting the better of me. I simply had not choice but to show now, so after the club meeting, instead of going home I went straight to Mr. Okabe's class room. The sun had just started setting, casting an almost beautiful orange light through the window of the class. I walked in slowly, wondering what was in store for me. I didn't expect to see the person who was now standing across from me.

"Kyonko," said Ryou Asakura, nodding his head politely, "I am glad that you showed."

The feeling of my stomach lurching came back to me. Every part of my mind, every cell, every organ, every limb screamed...

RUN.

My legs wouldn't move, "A... Asakura-san." My voice was shakey as he approached me.

"I've been observing your friendship with Haruki. It's... interesting to say the least."

I swallowed heavily, trying to ignore my rapidly beating heart, "Interesting like how?"

He smirked, and if I wasn't frozen to the spot before, I would have been now, "Haruki is special, more special than he realizes. Just recently, in the past weeks... he's grown attached to you."

Haruki? Attached to me? I would have laughed if my knees weren't threatening to buckle on me.

He reached into the pocket of his uniform and pulled out something that made my world stop.

A knife, "W... what are you going to do with that? Stay away from me!"

"I'm going to kill you of course. When Haruki realizes that you are deceased, a data explosion of great magnitude will follow. It will be the ultimate observation."

What Nagato-san said about Haruki once again came flooding back to my mind.

But if I were to die, how would that make Haruki do something like that?

I didn't have time to reflect on the matter, as Asakura charged me with a speed I didn't know he posessed. I'm not a very athletic individual, and I'm certainly not on par with people like Haruki, but in a situation like this...

I ran to the door, narrowly avoiding Asakura's first strike. I jerked the door and pushed, but to my disdain, nothing happened. Then the door simply vanished, and I was staring at a simple grey wall, common throughout the school, yet now an arbiter of my coming death. I turned and back against the wall, trying to gather the willpower to dodge the next strike.

"There is no escape," he said gently, "I control all data in this area, nothing can get in or out. Your death is inevitable."

"You don't have to do this Asakura-san, please, there's no reason to kill me!"

He looked down at the knife and frowned, "I've never really observed a human's emotional data, it doesn't hold very much of interest. I do not understand the concept of death."

Anothe lunge, I barely managed to side step it before running to the back of the class. Suddenly, the world around me exploded and Asakura frowned, "Hmm, perhaps such an unconventional method truly wasn't the best of ideas."

The room looked like it had been torn in half at the top, but instead of blue sky I saw nothing but vibrant color, shining so bright it was almost blinding. I looked around myself for something, anything.

A desk!

In any normal situation I could lift a desk and haul it across the room, but throwing it, especially at that distance, was another feat altogether.

All throughout history, when human's survival instincts kicked in, when you went on nothing but your gut, when you placed your trust in your basest of values, and when adreniline was coursing through you, the impossible became possible.

I picked it up by its legs and tossed it as hard as I could.

It stopped just short of Asakura's body and shatteredinto shrapnel.

My eyes widened.

Asakura smirked, "Like I have said before, it's no use Kyonko, accept it. You're merely a part of a scientific study."

So that was it huh? A science experiment.

As the knife came down upon me I closed my eyes tight, bracing for the stinging pain.

In that final moment I saw the SOS Brigade... my SOS brigade.

Nagato-san, with his alien silence and book always in hand.

Asahina-san, cute and loving, brewing the best tea in the world, if I had been around long enough, she could have been a sister to me.

Koizumi, despite being creepy, I wanted to get to know her a bit better.

Haruki... what was Haruki to me?

My eyes remained shut, and the pain never came. When I opened them I saw one of the most shocking things I had seen since my time at this high school. Nagato stood above me, holding the knife with his bare hand, blood dripping to the floor.

His face was emotionless as always, but his eyes, they held... anger?

"You are in violationand have become a liability," said Yuuki, "I have been given orders to terminate you."

I began to stand, but Nagato grabbed me by the collar and tossed me aside like I was nothing, "Oh?" Asakura sounded curious, "Surely you are curious about this as well Nagato-san, the data explosion would be simply astronomical."

Yuuki didn't move, "As long as I remain here to observe Suzumiya-san, no harm will befall he or his friends."

Asakura smirked and thrust his arms out. Metal spikes seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and they were heading straight for me. Again, the pain never came, and I saw Nagato once again, this time with the multiple spikes protruding from his body. My first thought was that he was going to die, and I couldn't help the tears briming at my eyes, but then he reached up and pulled one out as if it were simply a sliver.

Blood was everywhere.

Nagato turned and tossed the spike at Asakura, who deflected it, still with a smirk, "It's over Nagato-san, your data is breaking down. You don't have enough fight left in you."

Asakura once again casted his hand out, and this time a large metal beam went straight through Nagato's chest. Nagato stood there for a moment, frozen. "It is finished. Data elimination in progress." Nagato reached up and touched the beam and it began to disintigrate into thin air.

Asakura stepped back, still smirking, "It's too bad... I would have liked to see the results of my little experiment. I didn't expect you'd be able to hack into my area like that."

"The fight was merely buying time," said Nagato.

Asakura broke down and vanished, just as the metal beam had but a moment ago. Nagato fell to the ground, and I scrambled to him, "Nagato-san!" I picked his head up and put it in my lap, "Hang in there!"

"I am not harmed." He said it as usual, as if it didn't matter there was a huge hole in his chest, "The data must be restored."

Before I knew it we were in the middle of a normal class room again, no blood, no holes in our uniforms.

No Asakura.

"Oh!" Nagato let it out with mild surprise, bringing a hand to his face, "I forgot the glasses."

"That's okay," I said with a smile, "You look more handsome without them."

No reaction... as always.

-------

My head ached... what the hell was going on?

"Get your lazy ass up!"

"Can't you let me sleep in peace for once?"

"Not if it's in front of the computer. Punishment, PENALTY!"

"Haruhi, isn't it enough that you work me to the bone?"

"No complaining! You barely get anything done Kyon, if it wasn't for you our website would have taken off like a rocket by now!"

I looked down at my hands. Kyon? Haruhi?

Familiar names, my mouth was talking without me thinking about it. "Don't you have some strange thing to go looking for?"

The girl above me let out an indignant sigh.

She seemed familiar as well, in fact, if I wasn't mistaken, this was the...

A blow horn sounding in my ear was the last thing I had wanted to wake up to. I looked up with sleepy and agitated eyes to see a grinning Haruki, "You fell asleep at the computer again," he said simply, "Meetings over, time to get going."

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and tried not to let my agitation get the better of me.

I looked over at Koizumi, she gave me a meaningful look.

I guessed I was in for another long speech.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Of Shinjin and ESPers

"I hailed a taxi for us," said Koizumi.

It was true, right outside the school gate and across the way was a taxi waiting for the both of us. Praying that there was no ulterior motive in the girl's actions I walked towards it with her, "What is this about?"

"The conditions have been met," she said calmly, getting into the rear seat and scooting over to make room for me as well. "I believe I owe you an explanation."

Damn right you do.

"You already know that Haruki is special. When his emotions become unstable, the world around him does as well."

I shut the door and the taxi began to move, I shot a nervous glance at the driver, as Koizumi was dropping some seriously crazy information in front of a complete stranger. When she continued I shrugged it off, maybe she knew the guy.

"An alternate plane is created, we call it 'Closed Space'."

"Closed space?"

"Yes, it's a simple term, derived from the simple fact that it is closed off from anyone who wishes to enter, aside from espers of course. This Closed Space is where my powers manifest themselves, as you will soon see. In this space are blue giants, my collegues and I call them the shinjin, they destroy everything around them, taking out Haruki's frustrations without harming the world that he created."

Blue giants. "I've seen them before."

Itsuko looked surprised, and her plastic smile vanished. She obviously hadn't been expecting that, "You have?"

"Yes... in my dreams. It was dark, and kind of grey. There were two people, a boy and a girl. I can't remember much from it, but those blue giants, I know that's what you're talking about. Haruki has seen them in a dream too."

"Hmm." Itsuko brought her fingers to her chin, "Suzumiya-san seeing them in a dream is one thing, considering how he is related to them. However, you are an entirely different matter altogether. This is a very unexpected developement. Has anything else happened that has striked you as strange?"

Only the entirity of the last few weeks. I bit my tongue and kept the sarcasm back, "Well," I said, "I've been getting very strong bouts of deja vu, like conversations I remember, but have never had before. Also, that thing with Asakura, when Nagato-san saved me, I knew Asakura was a threat the minute he talked to me. It was strange, something was just telling me to stay away from him. Not only that, I've been having dreams, extremely vivid dreams, of a boy and a girl, they're very familiar, and I can't place why."

My long winded explanation had left me breathless, and Itsuko was now looking at me with what I could only describe as deep interest. "Perhaps this has something to do with Asahina-san," she said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"Asahina-san is not from this universe, it could be that... when she jumped, she brought something with her."

"Brought something?"

"Something from another universe. But I digress, this is a conversation for another time." Suddenly, the dark seriousness of her voice was gone, and she once again wore that same plastic smile, "I believe that we have arrived at our destination Kyon-chan."

Stop calling me that.

We stepped out of the taxi and into what looked like a major intersection. Itsuko smiled and waved as the taxi drove away. She gestured to the crosswalk in front of us, "Kyon-chan, you're going to have to hold my hand."

Whoa now.

"Nobody said anything about having to hold hands."

"Trust me, it's the only way for you to follow me into the Closed Space, you are not an esper like myself."

She held out her hand to me and I gritted my teeth, this was a hundred times worse than when she got too close, but if it was to find out the truth...

I reached for her hand and she took it gently, beginning to walk back.

A sudden sensation flowed through me, almost as if I had dived into a swiming pool. I gasped for air and released Itsuko's hand, "It takes some getting used to," she said softly, "But it doesn't take long to recover, it's not a violent transferal or anything."

When I caught my breath I looked around myself. The surroundings were almost exactly the same, the only differences were that everything was dark, grey, and dull. The people that had been bustling around us a moment before had all vanished, and the activity of the busy intersection ceased to be. "So this is closed space? It seems so... dead."

Itsuko nodded, "Follow me, it's time to show you what you came here to see."

Itsuko led me to a nearby building. Going inside, we climbed to the very top. The roof only made the world seem more surreal, the humming of the ventilation system was absent, and the stillness of it all sent a chill down my spine. I walked to the edge of the roof, towards the tall railing. A rumble, almost like a creature not from this planet, echoed in my ears. In the distance I saw it.

The blue giant.

Shinjin.

It was flailing its arms madly, destroying the buildings around it, demolishing anything and everything it could hit. Itsuko walked to my side, "See its wanton destruction, all of Suzumiya-san's anger and frustration at the world around him, let out in this pure and brutal fury. Suzumiya-san enjoys the current world, so he subconciously confines the creatures to this Closed Space in order to preserve what is around him. If these Closed Spaces did not exist, the world as we know it would fall into utter chaos. On the contrary, if the Closed Spaces become too great, they would overthrow the very reality around them. Our job as espers is to keep these Closed Spaces from spreading, in order to do that, we destroy the Shinjin with our powers."

I saw red spheres were beginning to circle the creature, almost as if they were dancing around it. It swatted at them like bothersome flies, but to no avail.

"My collegues," she said softly, "I should join them. Wait here, and observe Kyon-chan."

Itsuko's very being began to glow, and a red sphere surrounded her entire body. She slowly began to float into the air, up above the railing, and away towards the Shinjin in the distance. The red spheres continued to dance, now joined by their final comrade. An arm was sliced from the creature, then a leg, shortly followed by its severed head. It burst into thousands of particals, reminding me of the time when Nagato had so easily deleted Asakura.

Before I knew it Itsuko was standing next to me once more. "Now," she said softly, "Watch what happens next."

I heard a looud crack. I looked up to the sky and what I saw surprised me. The sky itself looked like it had been broken, and sunlight was leaking in through the grey. It cracked again, and again.

Everything went white.

And we were once again in the intersection bustling with people, "So now you see," siad itsuko happily, walking towards me and leaning forward, "My role is a very important one."

Your face is way too close.

--------

"There are rumors going all over the school about you two Kyonko."

I shrugged, let them talk, the SOS brigade thing was my business, if people wanted their gossip so badly then who was I to take it away from them, "Oh yeah?" I inquired, "What kind of rumors exactly?"

Taniguchi leaned over the lunch table and Kunikida got a worried look on her face. "Well," whispered Taniguchi, "They say that you and Suzumiya-san are... dating."

She said the word like it was absolutely forbidden. I rolled my eyes, "One, we're not in kindergarten anymore Tani-chan, it's okay to date boys. Two, If it weren't for the club, Haruki and I wouldn't even go near each other. Three, I wouldn't date that guy if you gave me a million dollars." Satisfied with my reasoning, I picked up my chopsticks and clicked them together before stabbing a helpless piece of pork with them.

Taniguch grinned, "You talked to him first," she said slyly, "Before he even made that stupid club."

I froze just as I was about to stick the pork in my mouth. Dammit it was true, I did initiate conversation with him our first day at school. For some odd and unknown reason I kept talking to him, even though his behavior creeped me out a bit. Although, looking back on it now, Haruki's reasoning wasn't so far off the mark. What were the chances of an alien, esper, AND slider all joining his little club, unless he himself was supernatural as well? These three were in his very own club, and he didn't even realize that what he spent all his time searching for was right in front of him all along. I frowned, thinking of telling him, after all, he was pretty much devoting his life to this chase.

What do I care anyways? It's not like I give a crap if he finds what he's looking for!

Haruki's little adventures could go stuff themselves as far as I was concerned.

"Um, Kyonko," said Taniguchi, still with that God awful grin, "You're blushing."

"I am not!" I shouted, stuffing the pork into my mouth, effectively ending this embarrasing branch of conversation.

Sometimes Taniguchi's obsession with romance scared me.

It was hard to believe so much had happened in a span of such short time.

A slider, an alien, an esper, all with undeniable proof that they were exactly what they said, and in the center of it all, Haruki Suzumiya.

So where did that leave me?

The normal High School girl trying to mantain her grades.

This was hardly the place for me, I didn't belong with such extraoridinary people.

_"Haruki Suzumiya chose you."_

Why did he choose me?

_I turned and glared, "What was that for?!"_

_He smirked, "I just noticed how nice your ponytail looks is all."_

I frowned and stood from the lunch table with a huff, walking off without any warning to the girls I had just left behind. I exited the building, deciding to take a walk in the courtyard and get my thoughts straightened out. Then I caught sight of something strange, a boy and a girl at the end of the courtyard. The boy was standing, and the girl was sitting on the table in front of him. From where I was standing it looked like they were in a very heated argument.

Normally I am not one to pry into other people's business, but there was something about these two that simply tugged at every part of me that was curious.

Maybe it was nothing.

Maybe they were more aliens.

Maybe I was going batshit insane.

Maybe Haruki Suzumiya was rubbing off on me more than I thought.

Whatever the case may have been, I kept walking towards them, and only as I heard their argument did I truly realize the magnitude of the mistake I had just made.

"This is all your fault Kyon!"

"My fault, how is this my fault? You're the one with the crazy powers, you explain this."

"PENALTY! You really need to learn to stop talking back to your Brigade Chief!"

They both turned to look at me as I drew closer, and everything froze.

I didn't even know what to think anymore.

I tried to say something.

I tried to think straight.

My mind was drawing a complete blank.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Universe Collision

I knew it, somewhere deep inside of my thoughts, I knew Haruki was playing some part in this. From what Koizumi was telling me he had the power to change the world around him, especially without knowing it. It was the only explination I could think of when I saw him. I stared into light and intellectual eyes, and they stared right back.

Until Haruhi hit him. He turned to her and frowned when she started yelling again, "What are you staring at some strange girl for?! You better have a good explination!"

"I know that girl," he said simply, "No need to get all jealous."

Haruhi pouted and puffed her cheeks out. I didn't know her, yet she seemed eerily familiar, "And how exactly do you know her?! She's wearing a ponytail, is that it?!"

Kyon grumbled something, then looked thoughtful for a second. After a moment of silence he answered, "I'm not sure, I just know her."

My mind reeled, I played out a few scenarios in my head. If I wasn't mistaken, and by logical means I doubt I was, then the two standing in front of me were carbon copies of Haruki and I, except... the opposite gender. I moved onto a second consideration, this was probably some weird prank that someone was pulling on me. It was most likely Haruki who had come up with it, then again, Haruki had never been one for having many friends until the SOS brigade was formed. I also entertained the thought that I was going/already insane. Mental images of me locked in a padded room, bound with a straight jacket, invaded my mind.

I hated needles.

I shivered lightly and crossed my arms, attempting to hide my discomfort.

Haruhi turned to me and narrowed her eyes, "Now that you mention it," she said in a calmer voice, "She's really familier isn't she?" I frowned at her observation. It unsettled me greatly that she was the same, and yet not. Haruhi continued, "In fact, she's got that same dumb look that you always have on your face!"

Kyon sighed and shook his head, "So? You think everything is dumb."

"I'm serious!!"

This was going downhill fast, I had to get out of there. I turned to walk away.

"Hold on!" shouted Haruhi, "You're not going anywhere until I figure this out!"

I gritted my teeth, being used to hearing that shouting from a different set of lips, "I can't help you," I said simply, "I'm just a normal High School girl."

I could almost feel Haruhi's narrowed gaze piercing into my back, "She even has that same bored tone!"

Before she could scrutinize me further I was already running as fast as my legs would carry me.

I shouldn't have been stupid.

Stupid enough to think that she wouldn't follow me.

"Haruhi, wait!"

The shout had come from Kyon, and that's when I knew that she was hot on my tail. I picked up the pace as I heard the lunch bell ring, I ignored it, figuring now wasn't exactly the best time to be heading for the class room. The chase carried us out of the courtyard and into the halls of the school.

I was already doing my best.

I couldn't outrun Haruhi. If her male counterpart was any indication she was extremely well off in the physical fitness department.

I could only do one thing.

Outwit her and try to lose her.

Shocked students fell to the ground as I forced my way past them and in between them. I heard Haruhi yell in surprise, but I didn't stop to turn around and see how I'd managed to slow her down. She had most likely tripped over one of the unfortunate students. I willed myself to keep moving, knowing that if I slowed down even one bit she would be right on top of me.

"Yo, Kyonko..."

Not right now Taniguchi.

"Is that Haruki in a girl's uniform?"

I shoved past her, continuing my pathetic sprint down the hall. This time it was Taniguchi that wailed in surprise, and I couldn't blame her, from what little I saw of her Haruhi looked like a storm waiting to happen. As I flew down the hall I noticed the population of students beginning to thin out as they headed back to class. This was not good, and I had to think fast to compensate, I could almost feel Haruhi gaining on me. I saw two wide wooden double doors on my right up ahead. Above the doors hung a sign.

'Library'.

When I reached them I banked to the right and slammed the doors open. I ignored the startled shout of the library lady at the little counter and ran for the middle of the bookshelves.

"This is a place of quiet!" shouted the lady.

"Stuff it lady, I've got an alien to catch!"

She thought I was an alien?

I thought I caught a glimpse of Nagato as I stormed in between the different shelves, but I didn't have time to stop and think about it. There was only one way out of the library aside from the front entrance, and that was the entrance to the school parking lot.

I had to think fast, when I got out there it would be almost clear, and Haruhi would catch me for sure, whether I weaved in between the cars or not. I pushed the door and continued to run, my feet now hitting concrete. To my right a small construction project was happening, I smirked, that was my best chance to lose her. I ran for it, hoping I would make it in time before she came out those doors after me. A yellow tractor was digging under the asphault, leaving dirt and debris in its wake. There was a small break cabin for the workers near the tractor, and I set my dead sprint towards that.

I opened the door, burst in, and slammed it behind me, trying to catch my breath.

In front of me stood three very surprised and confused looking construction workers.

All three of them were big, burly looking men, the one in the middle tilted his head, "Little miss? What are you doing wandering around where you shouldn't be?"

I held a finger to my lips, "Shhh, just let me hide here for a bit please."

There was a tornado coming my way.

Threatening to swallow me whole.

"I know you're in that cabin!"

I let out a startled meep when the door I was leaning against was pulled and I went tumbling out. For a moment everything was blank, almost a rush, then I was on my back looking up at Haruhi, a triumphent grin on her face.

I remembered Asahina-san's words.

That if she were to come into contact with her alternate self then there would be disasterous consequences, "Wait, Suzumiya-san, you don't understand!"

Her eyes narrowed, "How do you know my name?"

Uh oh...

I grinned sheepishly, "Um... lucky guess?"

"You're coming with me!"

Without warning she grabbed the collar of my uniform and began to drag me behind her.

As much as I hated that I was thinking such a thing...

I think I prefered MY Suzumiya-san picking me up.

-------

The clubroom was deathly quiet, I sat in my usual chair. Koizumi had pulled out an old chess board in the back and I was absolutely annhilating her. Haruhi stood over the both of us, looking amused, "I should've known that wouldn't change!" she said proudly. Asahina-san stood in the corner, looking extremely nervous. Haruhi turned to the girl and grinned, "So, Mikuru-chan, for running off, I'm giving you a penalty."

The timid girl flinched as if she had been struck, "Suzumiya-san... I... I had to. I was ordered."

Haruhi frowned and walked towards the girl, putting both her hands on the girl's shoulders, "Mikuru, the SOS Brigade sticks together! No matter what! We couldn't let you come here by yourself!"

"Checkmate," I said quietly.

She gave me her plastic smile, "Well played Kyonko."

I think you're losing on purpose. You sucked THAT bad.

"Perhaps," she said softly.

My eyes traced over to Nagato, who was flipping through one of his daily books, and then Kyon, standing in the cornerwith his arms crossed. He was looking at me intently, a frown etched onto his face, "What?" I asked uneasily.

He looked to the side, "Nothing."

I knew pursuing the matter wouldn't get him to talk.

I knew all too well.

Nagato shut his book, "This is a great risk," he said, "Having the three of you here is a great anamoly, if the wrong things are said or done, the universe could collapse at any moment in time. I highly suggest you do what you came here to do and then take your leave as quickly as possible. Staying here for too long could trigger undesired fluctuations in data, observation would be limited, and it could be fatal."

"Sweet!" shouted Haruhi, "Another adventure!"

My counterpart slapped himself in the face, "A break every once in a great while would be nice Haruhi."

"Hell no! Then I'd just be bored! So um... what exactly are we here to do Asahina-san?" she asked, turning back to her collegue.

Asahina shook her head, "Kyonko," she said, looking at me purposefly, "What I say does not leave this room. You're only hearing it now out of necessity. Recently, I contacted my superiors, and they informed me of something horrible that was happening. About a week ago we began seeing lurches in the structure of the timeline, the problem was, we couldn't identify it."

Koizumi stood and turned her smile to Asahina, "Data fluctuations."

Asahina nodded, "Yes. We traced it back to this specific universe."

"You never told me you were a Slider as well Asahina-san," said Kyon.

She turned to him and smiled warmly, "It was classified at the time. Anyways, we observed, and found Suzumiya-san's counterpart."

"Rather surprising," said Koizumi, "To learn that there were more beings like our Suzumiya-san. This opens up a whole new world of theories."

Asahina continued, "We found an unknown person here. We do not know who he is, or what his goal is, but he has been the one causing the data fluctuations."

What for?

"Well, we haven't quite figured that out yet. However, if things continue as they are, your world will fall apart Kyonko."

I turned to look at Koizumi, her smile was gone, "I believe we have arrived at the heart of the matter then. We must find this individual and stop him from upsetting the balance."

"Count me in!" shouted Haruhi.

I sighed and looked down at my hands.

I was once again plagued by thoughts of why I was here, surrounded by all these extraordinary people. I looked up at my counterpart, he was once again looking at me. I stood from my chair and walked around the table and towards him, "This is kinda weird... huh?" I wondered softly.

"I'm used to it by now," he said, "Ever since I told Haruhi the truth, even more crazy stuff has been happening than before. The SOS Brigade is more than just a High School club now."

I frowned at that, what would become of my SOS Brigade?

"You'll be fine," he assured me, "And if you ever wonder why you're here when you're the only normal person... look to Suzumiya for your answer."

Haruki?

How would he answer that?

Kyon smirked, as if he was dangling a secret in front of my face.


	7. Chapter 7

Cloud: Apologies in advance for a REALLY short chapter. I've been busy in processing at my new base, and apparantly the Air Force has found it lucritive to give me a room mate I didn't want in the first place.

But nevertheless I will write, I don't want to disappoint the readers after all.

Chapter 7: Think of Sane Places

Some people think that Romeo and Juliet was the greatest love story of all time. I'd have to say I disagree completely with that point of view.

_I have to tell her today._

For one thing, they see each other and they're suddenly in love? Call me cynical all you want but there is no such thing as love at first sight. For two, both these families hate each other's guts, if they really wanted out they should have just ran off in the first place instead of her coming up with some stupid plan to poison herself. There were tons of things that could have gone wrong with that.

_I'm going to tell her about aliens, time travelers, and espers._

Third, Shakespeare was a bit of a bigot.

I know it was a different time and different values.

But still...

Taming of the Shrew almost made me gag.

_"Haruhi, you're late, that means you're buying."_

_"Yeah whatever, I know."_

Something pressing into my back.

Up

Down

Up

Down

"Wake up big sister!"

My eyes flew open. Currently a little brat had obviously decided to take residence on my back. I decided to retaliate by rolling over, causing him to fall off the bed with a startled yelp. "I have an alarm clock and I don't believe I ever asked you to wake me up every morning," I grumbled, yawning loudly. "On second thought, it's Sunday, why are you waking me up?"

The boy grinned, "Your BOYFRIEND is at the door."

I promptly threw my pillow at him as he dashed out of the room. Boyfriend?

Only one person would come to bug me on my sacred weekened.

I dressed myself appropriately and walked at a slow pace to the door, letting out another yawn as I dragged my feet. I opened it and was greeted with the sightofmy mother cooking a large breakfast, she smiled warmly, "You better get the door dear, he seems a bit impatient."

Tell me about it.

I walked around the kitchen and arrived at the front door before pulling it open. There stood Haruki, a deep frown on his face.

What did this goofball want?

"I have come to verify something!"

Without warning he grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door, leaving it to slam on that giggling little brother of mine. He dragged me about halfway down the street before I spoke, "Haruki, what is the big idea grabbing me like that!? People will spread rumors!"

"That doesn't matter, you're coming with me to investigate something strange!"

Leave it to this idiot to have my little brother bug me out of bed so he could lead me on a wild goose chase to find something mysterious. "If this is about aliens or something can it at least wait until tomorrow Haruki?"

"No, it can't! Look, there they are!"

Who?

We had stopped at the beginning of the hill to North High, and Haruki was currently pointing ahead of us. What he was pointing at made my eyes widen.

"They've been there for the past thirty minutes, the guy just keeps pacing and the girl has done nothing but stare ahead. It's not normal behavior, I made an awesome discovery Kyonko."

Truth be told Haruki was right. He really had made an amazing discovery, yet he did not know the depth of this. On the left sidewalk was a lone bench. On this bench sat a small quiet looking girl with light hair. The man Haruki mentioned was indeed pacing back and forth in front of her, fingers scratching his chin as if he were in deep thought. This was not good, I had to think fast before something horrible happened. I knew from my counterpart's experiance that Haruki would eventually come to know the truth about himself, but something gnawed at my gut, telling me that this wasn't exactly the best time for him to learn of it. I racked my brain for something, ANYTHING.

"Isn't it strange Kyonko? We should investigate."

"Strange?" I giggled lightly, "The only thing that's strange is that head of yours, these two should be familier to you. I thought it was a Brigade Chief's duty to know his subjects."

Haruki turned and looked at me like I had suddenly sprouted dragon heads and started breathing fire. I continued, hoping that I wasn't heading down a path that would lead to the ultimate destruction of the universe, "What are you talking about Kyon-chan?"

I rolled my eyes, "You're hopeless, they're only your club member's relatives!" I waved my hand high up in the air and shouted, "Koizumi, Nagato!"

The two looked in my direction and a slightly confused look invaded the male Koizumi's features. I had to take action before it got out of hand. I ran up to them and Haruki was close behind. I stoppedjust short of Koizumi and smiled warmly, "Koizumi, you don't remember me? It's Kyon-chan, we met briefly before." I was trying not to let my nervousness show, my only hope was that this Koizumi would catch on quickly and realize what was happening.

He raised an eyebrow and hesitated, "K... Kyon?" He stepped forward and bent down.

Your face is too close.

Definately Koizumi.

"Yeah," I said nervously, "I've been looking all over for you guys."

I swear to God Koizumi I know you're a frikkin' esper, read my thoughts and help me out just this once, I'm begging you!

His eyes widened, "Y... Yes, I remember! Kyon-chan it's been such a long while. How have you been."

I grinned.

I probably looked really dumb.

The femal Nagato stood from the bench and walked towards me slowly. She was short, shorter than me in fact, the Nagato I was used to was a tall individual. She looked me up and down once and only let out a single word, "Unique..."

"I thought for sure these two were suspicious!"

I turned to the agitated Haruki, "Well maybe you should have more basis for your claims instead of randomely going around stalking people Haruki. You're lucky they turned out to be friends, they could have reported us."

"Whatever, Remember to meet at the club room this evening, I'm heading home."

I breathed a sigh of relief when the eccentric boy walked away and turned back to Koizumi, "That was close, I think I should introduce myself now. I'm Kyonko."

He smiled warmly, "Koizumi Itsuki, esper by trade, though your lovely young self already knew that."

He was a rather charming person.

I

didn't

just

think

that.

He smirked and stepped away to make room for the small Nagato, "Yuki Nagato."

"Okay you two," I said, "You better come with me, there's a lot of explaining to be done."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: A Slight Perdicament

"We have a slight problem," said Itsuki.

No way! I couldn't tell!

The clubroom was lit up brightly by the open window, it was around noon. Currently Itsuki and I were holding a conversation, if you could call it that. It was more like Itsuki was talking at me, but I digress. His friend Yuki sat in the same corner of the table her counterpart did, it kind of creeped me out to say the least. My counterpart was sitting down at the club computer, scrolling through something. Haruhi was shuffling through the various outfits Haruki had picked up for Asahina-san, muttering to herself, "Oh, why didn't I think of that one. This one would look cute on her too. Great minds think alike."

Itsuki was shuffling around our cabinet and pulled out a board game, American Chess. I shrugged and he sat down with a smile, propping everything up. When he finished we began the game and he continued to speak, "Haruki Suzumiya almost found us out. Luckily, you were there to save the day Kyonko. However, I'm not sure how long our charade will last, especially with Kyon and Haruhi here, it is a dire perdicament indeed."

So you say with that crappy smile. "So," I said, "You guys just need to find the person that caused the fluctuation right? It can't be that hard."

"We know he is at this school."

Itsuki moved his queen to the right. Dammit, just like Itsuko, I swear this guy is losing on purpose. "So why not just take care of him and call it a day?"

"That's the problem, we know he is here, yet we do not know who he is. Asahina-san told me they were able to detect that the data fluctuation came from here, and Nagato confirmed this with the Integrated Data Entity, however, we could not pinpoint it entirely, and it's become a huge problem for us. It was risky enough that you have met us, but if Haruki finds out about us as well, the results could be nothing short of disasturous."

"We're talking the end of the world!" shouted Haruhi, suddenly standing on the table by our board.

Where the hell did she come from?

"As an upstanding Brigade member, it is your duty and responsibility to take care of my man-clone!"

Man-clone?

"And as the Brigade Chief's girlfmmmmPH!"

Kyon had jumped up on the table and put a hand over Haruhi's mouth. He glared down at her, "Haruhi, do you have any idea what you just said? They aren't even close to that!"

"Yeah, well maybe she'll get a clue if I just come right out and say it!" she shouted after he removed his hand. This was followed by a smack to the back of Kyon's head, and Haruhi turning away with crossed arms and a slight huff.

"Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you," he grumbled.

I sent him a look of understanding when they stepped down from the table.

Itsuki cleared his throat and continued, "Anyways, Suzumiya-san is right, there's a high probability that it could cause the end of this world. We are running on a strict time limit, and it is getting uncomfortably close to zero now that we have gathered here."

So what do I do?

"I want you to continue attending the club meetings, we will work with our counterparts to resolve this matter, minus Haruki of course, and we will keep you informed of our progress. If something goes awry, we will be counting on you Kyonko"

Why?

"I'm sure Yuuki Nagato has told you this, but Haruki chose you for a reason."

And that reason would be?

"I'm sorry, I cannot tell you that reason, and neither can Haruhi or Kyon."

I looked behind Itsuki and saw the two, Kyon was scratching the back of his head and Haruhi was looking off to the side with a glare and a frown, a slight blush on her cheeks.

I frowned and sighed, "Whatever, I'm gonna go eat lunch. I wish you all luck."

------

I stopped by a small cafe that the Brigade had eaten at a few times since it had been formed. I sat down and ordered my lunch, trying not to let thoughts of recent happenings enter into the equation. It was to no avail, sure enough I began to feel worry creep into me? All of our copies were here now, and something about this entire situation absolutely screamed disaster. According to everyone around me there was some unknown person screwing around with the universe, and if it continued something very bad would happen, at least that's what I had gathered so far. I sighed and stuck another bite of food into my mouth. The waitress had found it lucritive to give me a seat directly by my window, and here she was approaching my table, "Are you enjoying your meal?"

I gave a polite smile, "Yes thank you, it's good."

"I'm glad, where are your friends? You usually come in with them."

Friends? Oh, you mean that club.

"Funny," she said, "You all seemed awfully close, like you knew each other well."

"No, I kinda just got dragged into it," I said with a scoff, "It's hard to explain."

"It's a shame, that boy with the headphones was cute."

Haruki?

"Is that his name?"

"Yeah... but I wouldn't call him cute. He's just a big jerk. He's the one that dragged me into the club. He's bossy, arrogant, rude, perverted, sexist, stupid, and he thinks the whole world revolves around him."

The waitress frowned, "Oh my... That sounds pretty bad."

"You have no idea. And not to mention he's completely crazy, and it always ticks me off that he's..."

"What?"

I frowned, "He's always right, and he's always dragging me around on some stupid adventure, and oh God my life hasn't been boring ever since I met him!" I buried my head in my arms, trying to deny the disgusting realization that was slowly building up in me.

Why was I having a heart to heart with some random waitress? "I don't know," I grumbled. When I looked back up she was gone, next to my plate was the bill. I frowned.

That was weird...

------

On my way to my house in order to shower and catch up on lost Sunday sleep my cellphone blared. I pulled it out and flipped it open, "Moshi moshi."

_"Kyonko, it's Itsuko. I went out with Itsuki to find the person that's the cause of all this. We found him, come to the clubroom quickly!"_

I didn't hesitate to close the phone and set a dead sprint towards the school. My heart was pounding fast before I even started running.

I had an extremely bad feeling about this.

Itsuko sounded... scared?

As the school drew into sight this feeling only grew.

_My friends are in trouble._

I dashed through the front gate and ran into the school, trying to ignore the sound of my empty foot steps in the hallway. It had taken me five minutes to run there, precious time that could have made a difference. I reached the club room in record time.

What I saw made my heart drop.

Ryou...

"Asakura!" I shouted.

Itsuko lay to my left, bloodied form slumped against the wall. Itsuki stood to the right of the club's table, clutching his arm and gritting his teeth, "I should have known it was you," he ground out. "Learning from the mistakes of other universe's are we?"

Asakura smirked and ran a hand through his hair, "Ryoko was a faulty model. She was extinguished for it. I took notice of these activities and made a backup of myself, my plan cannot be allowed to fail you see. An enormous explosion of data... would be an amazing thing. And look here, you even brought the very thing that would cause that explosion." He looked in my eyes.

My legs froze.

Not good.

"Hold it!"

I was shoved to the side, and Asakura's smirk vanished.

A grinning Haruhi stood in front of me, "If you're going to be hurting ANY of my subordinates, then you'll have to go through me first, and I wouldn't even give you five seconds!"

Itsuki glared, "That data fluctuation... it was your copy."

"Correct."

Asakura looked at Haruhi and his smirk returned, "This is a surprise, I didn't expect the Agency to be so persistant as to send her."

"Can it alien goofball!"

"Alright then, I suppose actions speak louder than words, as the old human adage goes."

Haruhi smirked, "Let's see what you got!"

"Haruhi!" shouted Itsuki, "Be careful, he's not the same as Nagato-san."

Before I could blink the entire area erupted. It sounded like two cars had been in a horrible accident, and we were now standing in what looked like a large desert. Haruhi stood directly across from Asakura, still smirking. Itsuki ran to his counterpart and knelt down, mumbling things I couldn't hear.

It was like some showdown out of an old western novel.

And here I was, in the middle of madness I had neither asked for nor expected.

Haruhi ran towards Asakura and my eyes widened.

What was she doing?! She was going to get herself killed!

She began to bring her fist down and the alien jumped to the right. Her strike collided with the ground and caused a large wave in the sand and a tremble in the Earth.

My jaw dropped.

Itsuki appeared next to me, seemingly out of nowhere, "You remember? Haruhi knows of her powers."

"So she can use them at will?"

He shoke his head, "Not quite, a good amount of it is still subconcious. This is due to the fact that Haruhi does not want that magnitude of power. Now that she has found what she has wanted, believe it or not, she wants nothing more than to live out the rest of her days with friends and family, however, it is not to be so.

"Suzumiya-san is constantly surrounded by conflict and adventure. At first I thought this was due to her powers, yet even now it follows her and latches on like a parasite."

I thought she enjoyed adventure.

"She does, but the fact that it follows her around every turn is no laughing matter. Kyon has had to make... adjustments."

Asakura and Haruhi once again stood across from each other, "Bet you're not so cocky now," said Haruhi, cracking her knuckles, "What's the matter, afraid to get beat up by a girl?"

I sighed, things just kept getting stranger and stranger.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: A Sad Goodbye to Normal

A couple of months ago, if someone were to tell me that I'd end up in the middle of a battle to save the planet, I would have laughed and called them crazy. Currently, I found myself pondering whether I was surrounded by crazy people, or if I myself were the strange one.

"Alright then!" shouted Haruhi, "Since Yuuki couldn't take care of you, I'm going to finish the job myself!"

Asakura's smirk never left his face, and I found myself beginning to think it was stuck that way. It was funny how Yuuki and his counterpart showed no emotion, and yet Ryou had this confident pretty boy shine to him.

I remembered briefly a conversation I held with Taniguchi a couple of months ago when Haruki had first arrived.

_"Now THAT'S a dreamy guy!" shouted Taniguchi._

_Ryou Asakura had finished in third on the weekly track run, being annihilated by Haruki of course._

_"He gets absolutely perfect grades and he's really nice, unlike Haruki. What do you see in that jerk anyways?"_

_I sighed and leaned back on the benches, glancing around at the rest of the class, "For the last time," I grumbled, "There's nothing going on between us."_

Before I knew what was happening there was an explosion and Asakura was sent careening into a nearby dune. I saw Haruhi with her fist still poised, a mad grin adorning her features. "C'mon, what am I supposed to do if you don't put up a fight?! I can't just wail on a helpless alien!"

Something tells me that she could, and would do so without regret.

Asakura stood and let the sand fall from his figure. He brushed himself off and shook his hair out as if he had merely taken a stumble on the beach, "Well," he said calmly, "I must admit, your power is quite extraordinary. However, it is not a fraction of what it should be."

Haruhi frowned, "What if I told you I didn't want this?"

"Then I would be inclined to not believe you. Who wouldn't want such an interesting lurch in the data surrounding them?"

"Die freakshow!"

She reached down to her feet and scooped up some sand before pelting it at her adversary. The sand formed into a solid rock and started to spin.

It never collided with its intended target.

Asakura had disappeared.

Haruhi screamed in frustration, "I'm gonna kill that prick! Nobody messes with the Brigade Chief!"

I turned and saw Itsuki kneeling next to his counterpart, his smile had vanished.

I rushed over to them both and knelt down next to Itsuki. I took Itsuko's head in my arms and frowned, "Is she going to be alright?" I asked softly. Itsuki nodded slowly and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Why did she call me here?" I asked, "I don't have any special powers like you all do. I couldn't have done anything to help."

"To tell you the truth," he replied, "I have no idea why she called you. I reached for my phone to call Haruhi, I figured she would have called Yuuki for help, yet she had called you. It truly is perplexing. We should admit her to a hospital, I will take care of things, you go home and get some rest Kyonko, I will call you when Itsuko is well again. Haruhi!"

His shout interupted the Brigade Chief's frustrated ramblings as she tossed rocks at the dune where Asakura had once stood, "What?!"

He smiled that sickly sweet smile of his, "Can you please send us back now?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes.

-----

Murphy's law absolutely and positively states, anything that can go wrong will. Inevitably, while this law was just a theory, the more humans that inhabited this planet, the more it became true. If one were to think about this law under unusual circumstances, such as being applied to only one person, that would have to be a rather unfortunate individual. However, the law covers many people, and as such it quickly becomes truth rather than theory. Somewhere in America a man fell from his roof and broke three ribs, the hospital he was sent to had the worst jello he had ever tasted. Somewhere in Russia one of the many movie pirates was slightly irritated at the fact that he forgot to bring batteries for his camera, and not to mention the movie completely sucked anyways. In North Korea a man was executed for marching incorrectly, he was labled a spy. In Iraq, an American soldier was distraught to find himself out of ammo in a combat situation, luckily for him and his family he was rescued by his comrades, but not without a bullet wound to the buttocks.

In Japan...

A schoogirl is confined to a clubroom after school...

Working on a website with zero hits.

Murphy's law hated me as well it seemed.

The clubroom was rather quiet. Haruki paced back and forth, Mikuru served her tea, Nagato read quietly, and Itsuko smiled at nothing, fidgeting with the cast on her left arm occasionally. I hardly expected it when Yuuki shut his book. I looked up and saw our Brigade Leader storm from the room, a frown permeating his features. Yuuki and Mikuru simply left. Itsuko sent a knowing look in my direction, "Something horrible is about to happen," she said softly. "Suzumiya-san has had nothing to entertain him. He didn't even inquire about how I gained this injury."

I frowned, it was rather strange. I expected him to be at least a little worried and let his burning curiosity get the best of him, but after seeing Itsuko's cast he had not said a single word. It was unsettling, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Itsuko continued, her smile gone, "Ryou Asakura's return, Suzumiya san's melancholy. I'm afraid that the universe is teetering on the edge of a knife. I feel that at any moment, everything could just tip over, and fall into oblivion."

That was a comforting thought.

"The Agency fears we are at the end of our days."

I frowned, trying to firgure out when things had gone from happy go lucky to end of the world.

Why did I have to get dragged into all of this?

I left without another word, pondering on what Itsuko had just told me. If it truly was almost the end of the world, there were so many things left undone. My family, my friends, the SOS Brigade. I tried not to let it get to me as I returned home, but it ate at my thoughts.

I didn't fall asleep until midnight, and when I finally did, it was an uncomfortable sleep.

I dreamt of strange things. I dreamt of aliens, sliders, and espers.

I dreamt of Ryou Asakura, holding a bloody knife, that all knowing smirk.

I dreamt of myself, broken and bloody...

Lifeless.

I dreamt of Haruki Suzumiya, howling out in complete and utter rage.

Why?

"Oi!"

My mind reeled, and I rolled over, trying to get away from the annoying voice.

"Hey! Wake up doofus!"

Something hard smacked me on the head, my eyes snapped open and I sat up straight. I was greeted by the sight of a frustrated looking Haruki, a pari of earphones clasped in his hand that he had so graciously conked me over the head with. I looked around myself. It was a grey world with a blank sky, to my right was the entrance to the school.

One thought entered my mind.

"Where are we?"

Closed space.

I stood up and brushed myself off. Something deep in my gut told me that this was what Itsuko was talking about. I walked towards the school without answering Haruki, and he followed, persistantly asking me what was going on. "You seem awfully calm about this."

"Well, in situations like this there's no use in panicking." I attempted to open the doors to the school, and they wouldn't budge.

"Let me," said Haruki, walking forward and shoving me aside. He took off his school coat and tore it, wrapping it around his fist. He then proceeded to punch through the window and unlock the door from the inside.

I smiled, "Guess you are useful for some things," I teased, walking ahead of him.

"H... Hey! Penalty!"

A few minutes later had found us in the club room. I decided to go about brewing tea to calm my ever swelling nerves. Naturally it was not as delicious as Asahina-san's, but it was still quite tastey. I noticed Haruki out the corner of my eye, still frowning deeply. "I'm going to explore!" he shouted, "You stay here!" Before I could protest Haruki had already gone, and I was left alone with my thoughts.

What were we both doing here?

And how were we going to escape without help?

My thoughts were interupted by a light red glow growing brighter through the window. I walked away from the tea pot and shoved the window open. I saw a small red sphere, it slowly formed into the shape of Itsuko Koizumi. "We found Asakura again, he was in a closed space. He was able to get away, but not before I inflicted some wounds on him. However, it will all be for naught if things continue as they are."

What's that supposed to mean?

She continued, "The closed space you are in isn't normal. Haruki has been growing bored, and as a consequence, he has made the subconcious decision to end our world and create a new one. I asked our counterparts, but they were not very forthcoming with information on the subject. I'm afraid this might be the last time we speak. It's funny, I was just beginning to grow attached to everything, too bad it won't be around anymore. Oh! Before I forget, Nagato-san said to turn on the club computer. I hope I can see you again... Kyon-chan."

Stop calling me that.

I don't know whether or not she was intending to say something else because she had vanished before doing so. I was left in the clubroom again. I sighed and turned my back on the window before sitting down at the computer. For whatever reason Nagato-san wanted me to turn on the computer. I frowned, wondering what purpose such a thing held.

I shook my head, Nagato had saved me once before, I trusted him.

I reached down and hit the power button, it whirred to life.

The screen flickered but remained black. I growled in frustration.

And then I saw a blinking typing line appear in the upper left hand corner.

_**Yuuki N.: Are you there?**_

I frowned and typed back.

_**Kyonko: Yes, I don't really know what's happening.**_

_**Yuuki N.: It's too bad.**_

_**Kyonko: What is?**_

_**Yuuki N.: I would have liked to...**_

Before he could finish the message the screen faded out. I frowned and smacked the moniter, "C'mon!"

_**Yuuki N.: Remember Snow White.**_

Snow White? What the hell did that have to do with anything? Before I could reply the screen had faded out once more, and the computer had shut down completely. The lights above my head went out and the tea stove had cut off.

A complete power outage.

The room was once again filled with a glow, however, this time it was blue. I gasped and turned around. Sure enough I saw a Shinjin decimating the sport's house.

I had to find Haruki.

My legs carried me out of the room quickly, and I rushed down the hall. In the rush I was at the moment, I doubt even the great Haruki could catch me. I wasn't expecting to collide with him around the corner towards the front door. We both fell to the ground and I groaned in pain.

"Kyon-chan! I just saw the greatest thing. It was the blue giant from my dream!"

Ignoring his excited ranting, I stood and grabbed his wrist, "We have to leave!" I said firmly.

As if to highlight my point the building shook with a large tremor. I dragged Haruki behind me, but he persistantly tugged back, "Listen!" He shouted, "They're not here to hurt us. I think this is something different."

I glared at him, "We have to leave Haruki! I'm going, you can stay if you want."

It was the only thing I could think of to get him to follow me. His stubborn nature would not allow him to let me be, so I turned and ran, Haruki hot on my tail. "I think those things are here to make a new world! It'll be amazing!"

"What about the old world?!" I shouted passed my shoulder as he chased me. Before I knew it we were on the edge of the school baseball field. "What about Koizumi, or Asahina, or Nagato? Are you just gonna forget about them for this new world?! What about all of our friends, what about the SOS Brigade?!"

I stopped and turned to face him. He quickly closed in on me, panting heavily from the exertion, "Kyon-chan. They'll be there too. And there's no need for the SOS Brigade anymore." To emphasize his point he gestured to the large Shinjin that was now lumbering towards us.

"I don't want that!" I snapped.

Haruki looked shocked, "But... I thought you didn't want a boring life."

The baseball field, the giants, Koizumi's words and creepy lesbian antics, Asahina-san's delicious tea, Nagato-san's book fetish, Tani-chan's obssesion with romance, Kunikida's level headedness, Asakura's psychotic plot to destroy the world.

All of it vanished.

It was just me...

And him.

"Haruki..." I said softly, "You're right. When I first got into High school, I didn't believe any of it anymore. Aliens, Sliders, espers, and time travelers. It was all gone from my mind. Those fairy tales I used to love as a child, all of it was just... gone. I didn't believe in any of that stuff anymore, then you stood up in that class room and shouted out for the whole world to hear.

"I thought you were crazy."

Haruki frowned.

"But," I continued, "As I talked to you, and when we met the others, I started to think that maybe you weren't as crazy as I thought you were." I smiled softly, "And maybe, just maybe I'd grown to think of you as a friend... sort of. The truth is Haruki, that ever since you came into my life, things haven't stopped being interesting. You may not see it yet, but that's because it's not right in front of you. One day, you'll wake up and see that the world isn't as boring as you think it is. You'll see that there are miracles, you'll see the supernatural, but for now... can't you just settle for this?" I grabbed his tie and pulled him closer, "Haruki, you're right, I don't want a boring life. I want to keep the life that you've given me."

_--_

_Yuuki N.: Remember Snow White._

_--_

_"As the Brigade Chief's Girlfmmmph!!"_

_--_

_"Kyon has had to make... adjustments."_

_--_

_"Suzumiya-san chose you."_

_Why?_

_**--**_

_**"What was that for?!"**_

_**"I just like your ponytail is all."**_

It may have been a trick of the light, but it looked like Haruki was blushing.

I pulled his tie a bit harder this time and brought his lips down to my own.

My world twisted and flipped several times, and I felt like I was sitting on top of a bullet train for a split second.

I had a bad habit of sleeping on the edge of my bed.

This startling realization was the first thing that entered my mind when I stumbled off the edge of my bed. Ignoring the pain, I stared up at the cieling for a good long minute that felt more like an hour.

Then it all came flooding back.

I brought my hand to my face and gagged, "Blech, there's no way!" I shouted, "I would never kiss that doofus!"

Before I could react my door had flung open and my grinning little brother was standing over me.

"Big sisteeeeer."

Oh no.

His grin grew wider, "Who's Haruki? I thought that Nagato guy was your boyfriend?"

A pillow promptly collided with his head.

"ERGH! Get out of my room you perverted twerp!! What kind of brother spies on his sister while she sleeps?!"

----

The hike to school felt longer than usual. I saw Itsuki on the way, waving kindly to me with that plastic smile on his face. Haruhi as well, she tried to be sneaky about it, but I peeked her through the bushes several times. Apparantly they were still on the lookout for Asakura, it was reassuring to know that while managing to avert one disaster there was still another on the loose.

And that was sarcasm in case anyone couldn't tell.

I arrived five minutes before class as usual, and Haruki was staring out the window as usual. Something seemed different today, lighter almost. I smiled happily and pretty much skipped to my seat, "Yo," I said softly, turning to talk to the Brigade Chief, "What's got you down in the dumps?"

"I had a nightmare last night. I contemplated skipping school."

I frowned. What a jerk, I shouldn't have kissed him in the first place, "It can't have been that bad," I said this almost defensively.

Haruki gave me a strange look, "It was, I still have a bitter taste on my tongue."

I huffed and turned around with my arms crossed. If he wanted to be that way he sure as hell wasn't getting another one.

I felt it when he yanked my hair, turned and gave him a glare, "What?!" I snapped.

He smirked, "Nothing, I just like your ponytail."

He grinned when my face lit up.

"I don't know," he said, almost contemplative, leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head, "Maybe it wasn't that bad of a dream. It did involve a pretty cute girl."

"Pervert," I grumbled, trying to concentrate on my notebook as the bell rang.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Painful Memories

When I was a little girl, I asked my mother a difficult question.

My grandmother had just died, I remembered how annoyed I got whenever she pinched my cheeks, or how ridiculously delicious her cookies were. I remeber she called me 'Her litlle pumpkin'. How embarrasing. When the funeral happened I couldn't stop crying. I was little, seven years old, the only thing I understood was that grandma had gone away, and wasn't coming back. Death was a new thing in my life, I didn't understand what was happening. When we were driving home I had finally started to calm down a bit. As she turned into our driveway I asked her...

_"Mom... what happens to people when they die?"_

She smiled at me gently, even at seven I could tell it was forced, after all, her mother had just passed away.

_"I don't know."_

It was the most honest answer a parent could give their child.

You read all these stories, watch all these movies, see it in society even. When a child dares to ask such a question, they are usually told that the person was going to a better place. The truth is bad, the truth hurts, the turth is that no one knows what happens when you die.

My mom was never one to mince words, she could never lie to her children like that.

So she just smiled and said, _"I don't know."_

_"But what I do know is... when someone dies, the people they leave behind remember them for the rest of their lives. My mother was a beautiful person, and I'm glad she left me with those memories before passing on. You may find someone Kyonko, someone who is by your side through thick and thin, and this person will make a great impression on you. Whether it be a boy, or a best friend, that person's memories, what they gave to you, will be with you forever."_

"Oi! Wake up!"

I popped up, my eyes snapped open, "I wasn't sleeping I swear!"

I looked around myself and saw that I was in the SOS Brigade's clubroom. I sighed and brought my hands to my face, "No sleeping, you should be working on the site!"

I removed my hands from my face, ignoring Haruki's scolding. I looked in front of me, Koizumi was sitting across from me, smiling as usual. A half played game of backgammon sat between us and I felt a blush coming on.

Did I just fall asleep in the middle of a game with Itsuko?

She shook her head, still smiling, "Don't worry about it Kyon-chan, you look exhausted."

Stop calling me that.

She brought a hand to her chin, looking as if she were pondering something, "Hmmm. I see Suzumiya-san call you that all the time."

I really wish there was some way to stop myself from blushing.

"It's true!" shouted the Brigade Chief, triumphently pumping his fist into the air.

Dammit, caught in my own vice. It truly appeared as if I held no problem with the suffix when it came to Haruki. I quickly changed the subject to avoid further embarrasment, "So!" I snapped, "What's the Brigade doing this weekend?"

I swear Koizumi if you don't wipe that smug smile off your face I'll make sure your life is hell for the remainder of the year.

Itsuko shrugged.

"Glad you asked Kyon-chan!" He shouted.

I gritted my teeth, suddenly paying extra mind to the suffix.

"We'll be going ghost hunting!"

Ghost... hunting?

"Yep! Tomorrow night! There's an apartment complex across town that seems suspicious, and I want to go and see it!"

"Hold it," I interjected, "There's one problem with this, aren't a group of teenagers skulking around in the middle of the night suspicious, besides, we might run into something we don't want to run into."

Haruki pondered this, and for a moment I futily hoped I had gotten through to him.

It was not to be so.

"You raise a good point! So we'll split into two groups. Yuuki and Asahina-san will go with Itsuko!"

"Wait, that would mean..."

He grinned, "Alright! You better not be late, there'll be a penalty, heads will roll!"

I liked my head where it was.

-----

"Okay, I'm here."

I expected him to yell in my face for being late, especially since I was actually running about ten minutes behind, but he simply stared up at the building in front of us. It was an extremely dilpidated place, and looked like it was in need of demolition. Obviously, no one had lived here for years, but it clearly was used for an apartment compony who knows how long ago. I looked at the Chief with a bit of worry, "Haruki?"

He didn't respond until I tugged on his sleeve, "Huh? Oh, Kyon-chan. Itsuko and the others already went in, we should go in too."

I became slightly disturbed. Haruki's tone was calm, if anything he would be brashly excited and shouting loud enough to wake up the entire neighborhood. It seemed like he was in a trance almost. I tried to shake my head of such thoughts, thinking like that would only make me paranoid.

But still...

"Alright," I responded, "We should be careful though, I have a bad feeling about this."

Entering the building, it felt like someone cranked the AC to the double snowflake setting. In my casual attire of shorts and a T-shirt, I began to shiver. Absent mindedly I clung to Haruki's arm as we began to walk. What appeared to have been a lobby was covered in dust and cob webs. Haruki pulled out a flashlight and clicked it on.

It was like the start of a cheesy horror movie.

I went over the general rules of horror in my head.

No sex, not that I'd want anything to happen between me and that perverted alien skirt chaser anyways.

No beer, easy when you have no access to it.

No splitting up, crap... too late for that one.

Haruki was eerily silent as we walked passed the remnants of the greeting desk and started down the first floor hallway. I wanted to yell out for the other members, but something deep in my gut told me that would have been an extremely stupid idea. I gulped, "Haruki." I don't know why I was whispering. "Are you okay?"

He didn't respond to me, just continued walking. The slight worry that I felt earlier was steadily creeping back. I tugged on his sleeve again, "Haruki... what's wrong?"

He turned to look at me, a blank expression on his face, "I don't really know," he said gently, now frowning. "I'm just walking I guess."

"We're here to find ghosts... aren't we?"

His eyes lit up and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, "Hey yeah!"

I slapped a hand over his mouth, "Shhh. What the hell is wrong with you?" I hissed, "Do you want to get us killed?"

He grinned, "Awww, is little Kyon-chan scared?"

Stop teasing.

"You are aren't you? I bet if we found a ghost you'd scream your pretty little head off."

"This isn't the time to flirt, I just... have a bad feeling is all."

I didn't expect what happened next. Haruki fell to the ground, suddenly going uncouncious. My eyes widened and I knelt down, shaking his shoulder, "Haruki. Haruki! Please wake up!"

"It's no use Kyonko."

I froze dead on the spot.

Dammit...

How could I have been so careless...

So stupid...

I should have called Haruhi...

I knew he was still after me.

"Asakura," I growled.

I stood slowly, taking a deep breath and clenching my fists. If I was going to die I might as well go down swinging, even if it was for a split second. I turned to face Asakura, who had that damnable smirk of his. Haruki's flashlight fell from his hand and stuttered out. I reached down and picked it up. "Now now Kyonko, you know that you cannot escape."

"Who said anything about escaping?"

I knew it was stupid.

"Oh really, you expect to fight me?"

I knew it was hopeless.

"Damn right! I'm not gonna let you push me around anymore. It's my life dammit!"

He frowned, "You seemed to enjoy your life before Suzumiya-san came along, what changed?"

I gritted my teeth.

All these amazing things, happening all around me. All because of _him._

In a matter of weeks my world was flipped on its back and hadn't been able to recover ever since.

Everything changed.

"Everything."

I knew it would be useless to shout for my allies, Asakura doubtlessly controled the space we were currently residing in.

Asakura was an alien, just like Nagato. It was hopeless to face such a creature, being the normal human girl that I was. On the other hand, the data manipulator that laid at my feet unconcious told a different story.

In the world of Haruki Suzumiya...

Anything was possible.

I just hoped against all hopes that the doofus wanted me to stay around, otherwise I was going to be experiancing a rather quick death.

Don't let me down Chief.

Asakura charged me.

Like a fool I flinched and closed my eyes. As last time, I didn't feel the pain I expected.

Unlike last time, when I opened my eyes there was no Nagato standing there, holding the knife with his bare hand. It was just Asakura, pushing his knife forward, struggling against what appeared to be an invisable barrier. On instinct I lashed out with the flashlight and caught him in the forehead. He stumbled back, a rather embarrasing red mark now prominant where I had struck.

Huh...

Asakura let out a deep sigh and stood up straight, "I should have expected as much, he does care for you a great deal. However, his powers cannot protect you indefinately, especially in the state he is in now."

We'll see about that.

He attacked me with the knife again, muyttering something under his breath. By the time I figured out what he was doing it was already too late and my pseudo barrier was broken. I barely managed to avoid getting gutted. Asakura went stumbling past me when I stepped to the side, the sudden loss of resistance had caused himto stumble.

I came up behind him and was shocked when I felt a pain in my lower abdomen.

I looked down and saw the knife I had been trying to avoid plunged into me.

My vision blurred and I fell to the ground.

I looked at Haruki's unconcious form and reached for his hand. I grasped it tightly and found myself short of breath.

Ah hell.

At least I tried to stay alive.

Sorry I let you guys down.

I didn't expect what happened next. Haruki's eyes snapped open, but they were milk white with no pupils.

If my thoughts weren't so hazy I would have been freaked out.

Haruki stood and dusted himself off as if he had just finished another baseball game. Then he began to walk towards Asakura. It was a slow strut, but for some reason Asakura was backing up. Haruki waved his hand and Asakura slammed into the wall of the lobby. When he regained his footing he ran.

For all his talk and psycho-babel, he really was just a coward. Haruki walked back to me, still with that slow strut.

I was struggling for breath, I knew when I closed my eyes it would probably be the last time.

He knelt by me, still with those milky white eyes, and stroked my cheek, "You look just like her," he whispered.

His statement confused me, especially since he once again passed out next to me.

I didn't have time to ponder, the hazy vision got worse, and I found myself blacking out.

"Kyon-chan! Suzumiya-san! Nagato, call an ambulance, quickly!"

------

_"Sanae... Sanae!"_

_I opened my eyes at the annoying voice and smiled to myself, "Jeez Sousuke, can't you let a girl sleep in peace?"_

_Sousuke grinned and spread his arms out, gesturing to the apartment we had just bought. He kicked the bed I was sleeping on, "We just got this apartment and all you want to do is sleep? Gimme a break girl. Get up, appriciate life!"_

_"Mmm, that's kinda hard to do when I've got a monkey like you waking me up every morning," I retorted._

_"Ouch, I think you hurt my man feelings with that one."_

_"If you wanna spend time with me so bad just climb into bed. I feel like being lazy today."_

_He smirked._

_"Don't try anything funny though."_

_His smirk vanished, and I laughed._

_**Beep**_

My eyes fluttered.

_**Beep**_

I awoke slowly to the sound of the beeping moniter and saw white tile. I tilted my head to the left and saw white sheets and an EKG. A small tube was running into my arm. I sighed and blinked a little, trying to get my head clear. I saw Itsuko sitting in the chair beside my bed, "She's awake!" she shouted into the hallway.

Before I knew what was happening my parents had come barreling in bawling their eyes out. After many reassurances that I was fine, my mother knelt by my bed and grasped my hand tightly, and my father stood above me, a satisfied smile on my face. "All your friends came to see you sweety," said my mom.

"The SOS Brigade?"

"Mmmhmm, they all left you gifts." My mom stood, letting go of my hand and walking to the edge of me bed. She brought over several cards and a basket.

Taniguchi, Kunikida. Both of them had got me a standard get well soon card. I frowned, I was hoping for something a little more interesting. My mom laid a thick book in my lap. It was obviously about aliens and robots.

Yuuki.

I smiled, maybe the nonchalant alien had more emotion than he let on.

The basket was obviously from Asahina-san. Distraught with worry and not sure what to buy, she had obviously overcompensated by buying me the basket full of candy and cute trinkits. Such a sweet girl.

"The bear is from me," said Itsuko, "I sewed him myself."

It almost scared me how much excitement was held in her voice. I looked down and noticed that a bear was indeed in the basket. A little tag was attached to it with hearts, 'Please recover quickly- Itsuko'.

I found myself growing more and more disappointed that the Brigade Chief hadn't gotten me anything.

However, this thought process was rudely interrupted when the door was slammed open, "Your Brigade Chief is here!"

He was followed by a nurse, screaming and fussing about how he couldn't just barge in like that. It was only as he approached that I saw him holding something in his hand.

"Do you have ANY idea how long it took me to find this damn thing?!"

I looked closely, but I couldn't tell what he was talking about, he was flinging it around too quickly. I became slightly annoyed at this, but he continued like the crazy idiot he is.

"First I had to ask your parents what your favorite was! Then I had to find a florist who actually sold the stupid thing! Then I had to dish out uber cash, that guy frikkin' ripped me off!"

A flower?

"YES!" He shouted triumphantly, "But not just ANY flower Kyon-chan."

It was then that he shoved it in my face.

A small pot with a moon flower planted in it, petals closed until the evening.

I really needed to figure out some sort of way to stop myself from blushing. "T...thank you." I took the flower quietly.

Haruki smirked, I kept expecting his next outburst to be, 'Now you owe me double duty!' or something like that.

But... it never came.

Dammit my heart was fluttering.

-----

A while later I recovered completely

The cover story that the agency came up with was a simple one.

The Brigade had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was a murderer on the lose, who was the one that supposedly stabbed me. Luckily, just in time, my friends were there to save me and managed to team up on the killer, calling the emergency personnel in the nick of time.

Haruki believed it.

For some reason, I wanted to tell him the truth.

It irked me to know that I couldn't speak a word of it to him... at least not yet.

One day I was going to tell him everything.

I currently sat in the clubroom, screwing around on the computer.

Haruki paced back and forth.

Yuuki read.

Itsuko smiled.

I sighed, remembering my dream before I had woken up, and the words 'Haruki' had spoken to me before we both lost it.

_"You look just like her."_

I typed it in on a search engine.

**Yuhigaoka Apartments**

Four thousand hits. I clicked the top one and opened the article.

**Yuhigaoka Apartments**

**A history of death. This apartment complex was shut down due to the infamous serial killings that took place in 2001. Among the victims were an elderly woman, a store clerk, and a young couple that had just moved in. They were all found with their throats slit by the killer while sleeping.**

I scrolled down and clicked on the link for the information on the victims.

Several pictures popped up.

The ones at the bottom...

The first was a young man with black hair, a large grin on his face.

_Sousuke._

The last was of his girlfriend.

_Sanae._

It was like looking into a mirror.

Haruki looked at me and tilted his head, "You've got a dumb look."

I looked up and shook my head, "Huh? Oh... it's nothing.

"Don't worry about it..."

Haruki shrugged, "Whatever you say."

_"Mom... what happens to people when they die?"_

_"I don't know."_


	11. Chapter 11

Cloud: Short but sweet. Next one will be longer, promise.

Chapter 11: Drunken Musings

It was impossible.

"Hey Kyon... have I told you that you have pretty eyes?"

It was ludicrous.

There was absolutely no way Haruki felt like that.

Was there?

I squinted my eyes when the distance between us shrunk.

... How did I get here again?

------

The next couple of weeks had been extremely uneventful. Not but a couple of months ago I would have enjoyed this fact, but with the direction my life was headed I found myself becoming bored. I couldn't believe it! Bored? Hadn't I always been musing about how I wanted my normal life back. I felt heat rise to my face when I remembered my confession to Haruki. Damn, I hoped he still thought it was a dream. If he thought it was anything more he surely didn't let on that he did.

The clubroom was silent with the zero activity. I sat at the computer while Nagato and Koizumi sat in their usual spots. Haruki paced back and forth impatiently, as if urging the world to throw something exciting to him. This thought worried me. Knowing his powers wishing for something to be was not out of reach, and we could end up on another crazy adventure before we knew it.

His melancholy worried me.

I wasn't worried about him at all.

Nope.

No way.

I was simply concerned for the universe's well being.

That was it.

My eyes darted to the moonflower I had set by the computer, sitting silently in its pot.

I cursed under my breath, causing Haruki to look in my direction. "What was that?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

I coughed, "Just a cough, don't worry," I lied.

"Whatever, I guess you can all go home for the day, nothing interesting is gonna happen anyways."

I took the incentive and stood from the chair quickly. Without saying goodbye I evacuated the clubroom and made my way quickly down the hall.

I was walking down the hill before I knew it. The twilight of the ending day turned everything around me into a dark orange color, and I found myself stopping to admire the scenery on more than a few occasions. I made it to my house without incident and walked slowly up to my room. I fell onto my bed and closed my eyes.

Several thoughts invaded my mind.

Did I really want the life Haruki had provided me with?

ESPers, time travelers, aliens, sliders, a male counterpart, a female tornado that was just as bad, if not worse than the one I had grown accustomed to.

I tried to think of my life before Haruki.

Wake up.

Go to school.

Do work.

Come back home.

Do more work.

Repeat process until graduated.

When garduated replace school with job.

I stuffed my face into my pillow and tried to get more comfortable. I went over the facts of my life as it was at that moment.

Blue giants.

Closed spaces.

Psychotic alien.

A friendly ghost.

A gender swapped version of my SOS Brigade.

Even if I wanted to go back to my old and boring life... I don't think I could have. And if I dug really deep and was extremely honest with myself, I don't think I even wanted to in the first place, not that I'd ever tell that perverted Brigade Chief.

It was with these thoughts that I drifted into sleep. Dreams are a strange thing, during one cycle of sleep the human brain processes many dreams in those hours, but upon waking, a person only remebered one or two if they were lucky. That age old trick, telling yourself, 'I will remember this dream.' before you fall asleep doesn't work. I had tried such a thing many times, and it never prevailed.

As I woke up to the sound of my blazing cell phone I remembered one stray thought.

A pair of shiny yellow earphones.

I grumbled and rolled over in my bed, grabbing the guilty device and pressing the talk button, "Merphagerja..."

There was silence.

_"Kyonko?"_

Itsuki?

_"Ah, I was worried for a moment. You see... we have a problem. We tracked down Asakura and followed him to a building that we assume is his house. It's a rather large place. There was a party going on."_

And this had to do with me?

_"Kyon is not picking up his phone..."_

I still don't see what this has to do with me.

_"About that..."_

Itsuki... hesitating to impart infinite wisdom on me? Something must have gone wrong.

_"There were drinks, and Suzumiya-san..."_

No.

_"I'm afraid so. She's rather rambunctious at the moment. It hasn't gotten bad yet, but a couple of people at the party said they saw a shadowy creature out back, it could get very complicated very quickly. I thought to call Kyon, but it appears he turned off his cell phone."_

I can't blame him, being in a relationship with someone like Suzumiya was bound to scar the guy eventually.

"I'll be right over, just gimme a minute."

_"Very well, I'll give you the address. I'll meet you out front. I don't think Asakura would try something in public, so you'll need to stay close to us."_

-----

The house was indeed large, twice the size of my own. I could hear music pulsating from inside. It was quite the sight to see. Asakura's influence with the school body was eerily wide, parties like this were hardly acceptable in Japanese school society. Why the psychotic murderous alien would throw a party was beyond me, and yet the evidence stood before me. I parked my bike out front of the house, utilizing a nearby rack and locking it up. Itsuki emerged from the shadows as I approached the front door and I nearly jumped out of my skin, "Shit Koizumi, can you at least warn me when you do that?"

That damn smile of his never stopped grating my nerves. It's bad enough I had to deal with MY Koizumi, there was also this one running around. "Hello Kyonko. I'm glad you came, things are going down hill. Let us retrieve Haruhi."

Walking into the home saw us srrounded by familier faces. All North High students.

Huh...

I briefly wondered how much these people would be in trouble if their parents caught them.

I doubt even mine would be very forgiving.

I shuffled through the faces as we made our way through the crowd. I would have made it a point to avoid Asakura, but luckily I was not running across him. It didn't take us long to find Haruhi. A small crowd had gathered in the living room. The charasmatic and bossy Chief stood on top of a coffee table, waving around a bottle of sake, a slight flush of satisfaction on her cheeks. "C'mon... I'll take ons all o' ya!"

Man she was out of it.

And my job was to calm her down?

Kyon would have been better for this.

I walked to Haruhi, shoving through the startled crowd. I ducked a swing and blocked another, narrowly stopping the bottle from colliding with my head, "Haruhi, calm down, it's me."

"Eh? Oh hey stupid face. Kyon's here woooo!"

Kyonko.

"Let's get Kyon some drinks!"

Kyonko...

I all but dragged her from the table, causing her to drop the bottle she had been swigging from. She looked up at me slowly, blinking sluggishly. "Heeeeey Kyon... I missed you..."

I sighed and tried my best to pull her to her feet, "Let's get you home," I said softly.

I contemplated something after she said that. Her statement had triggered a torrent of thoughts that I had tried to ignore. She missed him, she wanted to see him, to be with him. And even though she was completely crazy out of her mind... he wanted to be with her too.

Did that mean Haruki felt that way too?

Impossible.

Ludicrous.

My thoughts turned to when I kissed him in the closed space, to when he brought me the moon flower in the hospital.

"Hey Kyon..." slurred Haruhi, "Have I told you that you have pretty eyes?"

I squinted my eyes when she closed in.

Oh damn.

A moment later I noticed the contact still hadn't happened. I opened one eye at first, then the other.

Desert.

I sighed and shook my head.

Why me?


	12. Chapter 12

Cloud: Sry I haven't updated in a while. I've been watching the crap out of my new addiction "When the Cicadas Cry".

I'm back though!

Chapter 12: The Final Stroke

Calm down Kyonko… you can figure this out.

You've been in situations like this plenty of times.

Oh who was I kidding? I was stuck with no possible way of escape, surrounded by desert sand and dunes in some crazy upside down world of Haruhi's making. I tried to stop my stomach from churning. No one was here to help me; I was completely and utterly alone… all by myself. I did the only thing I could do at the moment; I walked, letting thoughts whirl through my forehead. Haruhi was completely wasted, which meant I would have to wait until she sobered up and realized she spirited me away to her little dream plane. That could probably take hours, yet I held faith that Itsuki would manage somehow, he had been dealing with the girl for a few years.

I let my thoughts wander back to Haruhi and Kyon's relationship. They were the exact same as us, just… different. So it would only make sense that Haruki would have brought me that moon flower, and it would only make sense that my face would heat up whenever he gave me that intense look, or even a compliment. How did they get together though? Something told me it would be a long story, and it was probably better saved for another time.

I walked for what seemed like an eternity, until I saw something in the distance. It was a speck with how far away I was, but it was clearly another person. The place was strange for a desert, it wasn't hot, in fact, it was quite cool, and I had yet to be attacked by a wave of thirst, so I began to run towards the other person. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, even though it wasn't very fast.

It was as I approached that I noticed the other person was running towards me too. We got closer and closer, and after what seemed like forever, I could tell it was Kyon. I ran faster, and we were eventually in speaking range of each other, both out of breath. I leant down, placing my hands on my knees and trying to slow my breathing. When we caught up with our bodies Kyon was the first to speak, "What are you doing here?"

Creepy. I could never get used to the fact that the way we talked was exactly the same.

Before I could answer another voice echoed over the vast desert, "Ah ha, it appears all the pieces are in place."

I whirled around to the direction the voice had come from. There, on top of a large dune not but ten yards away, stood Ryou Asakura, a woman stood by his side, also with blue hair.

"Asakura!"

Kyon and I had shouted the name in anger at exactly the same time.

The two merely laughed and the woman stepped forward, "I have to hand it to your little friend Nagato, she did a splendid job deleting me, but there was just that little bit of data left. Rebuilding myself took a long time."

Her smile was warm, friendly even, yet she clearly held malicious intent.

Wait…

Two Asakuras?

I looked at Kyon, "You told me Ryoko was dead," I hissed.

"I thought she was, but apparently I'm doomed."

"Tch, it looks like we're both screwed right now."

"Oh!' shouted Ryoko, "But surely both your deaths will be beneficial. Just think, TWO explosions of data from two universes, it will be a sight to behold."

My eyes narrowed. Dammit, how could we have gotten caught so easily? Weren't Haruhi and her SOS Brigade here to protect us from this? This was not good at all.

I tried to think, but my mind was blank.

I tried to run, but my legs wouldn't move.

I tried to say something witty, but the words were caught in my throat.

We were going to die.

Both of us out there in the lonely desert.

Whether we fought back or not we would die.

And then the world would end.

But why? I asked myself this question many times. I decided that if I were going to have peace in death I would have to know. I looked at Kyon, who looked like he was having exactly the same troubles I did, he stared right back at me, a look of primal fear and defiance etching his features. Then suddenly, his stare was blank. I felt something wet hit my cheek. I brought my hand up to see what it was. When I pulled back from my cheek my palm was smeared with a red liquid. Kyon fell to the soft sand, a large hole in his chest.

I knelt down and felt tears cloud my eyes.

Kyon and I never talked to each other much while he was in my universe.

But I knew him.

He was me.

And I was him.

I felt like a part of me died when I saw him fall.

I reached down and cradled his head in my arms, not hesitating to let the tears fall, "Kyon-kun, c'mon, wake up. We've gotten out of tighter situations than this."

Nothing.

No talking.

No sarcastic smile.

No witty comment.

No breath.

No life.

I felt like I had a hole in my chest as well.

"Kyon-kun…" The voice was soft, a whisper almost, yet I had still heard it, and it wasn't my voice this time. I looked up from his body and my eyes widened. Haruhi stood a few yards away. She sprinted quickly towards us and fell to Kyon's body, "KYON!" She choked on her own sobs, wailing his name.

I was frozen to the spot. I couldn't even move if I wanted to. I had literally just witnessed myself die, and as I saw Haruhi sob over him I began to feel the air fluctuate. It was a strange feeling to say the least. Just as quickly as she had started, she had stopped crying, and stood slowly, her school outfit covered in blood. She turned towards the Asakura's…

And unleashed a Goddess' unbridled fury.

"DIE!"

Ryoko was vaporized before her smile could manifest, and Ryou smiled and pushed his hair back.

"Haruhi!" I shouted, "Calm down, you're going to…"

I was shoved away several yards and into another dune as if I were merely a rag doll.

Haruhi went insane.

I could literally see the world around us falling to pieces; I coughed, trying to get air back into my lungs as I stood once more, "HARUHI!"

My shouts seemed to have gone unheard, "HARUHI! Listen to me!"

The air around us swirled, the world fell apart, disintegrating one grain of sand at a time. So this was the explosion of data that Asakura wanted to observe. I wouldn't let this happen, I couldn't, not after Kyon died, not after everyone did everything they could to prevent this. The wind picked up and threatened to push me off my feet, but I set my arm in front of my face, struggling to walk towards Haruhi. The wind picked up Kyon's body, causing it to float next to the Goddess. I gritted my teeth and struggled further.

"Magnificent!" shouted Ryou, raising his arms into the air as the world was annihilated, "Absolutely beautiful! This surge of data!"

I drew closer.

Ever so slowly.

Too slowly it seemed.

Haruhi's eyes turned blood red and she began to float as well, seemingly not caring about the world around her as it was destroyed. My hand landed on her arm. I felt a surge, almost as if I had been shocked by electricity, when I touched her, but with my own will I did not pull away, "Haruhi! Kyon wouldn't want this!" Her eyebrow twitched.

A reaction!

Asakura was oblivious to what I was trying to do, basking in the glory of his own foolish victory. I continued, "Please listen to me Haruhi! Kyon wouldn't want this, I know because I AM him. I AM Kyon. He wouldn't want you to destroy the world over his own death!"

A realization dawned on me.

If I were to die…

Haruki would do this exact same thing…

Because he loved me.

"Haruhi, Kyon loved you! He loved you so much." I could feel the tears coming on as my thoughts finally came together after all this time. "I know he loved you, because I love Haruki! Listen to me! I know it hurts, I know it feels like there's nothing left, but we can still fix this! Calm down!"

I gritted my teeth in pain.

I looked down and my eyes widened in shock, Haruhi and I, along with Kyon's body, resided on a small island of sand, surrounded by a black nothing. Ryou had long been disintegrated, and my arm was pulling itself apart now, particle by particle.

That can't have been healthy.

I reacted instantly, lurching forward and embracing the heartbroken girl in the tightest hug I could muster with one arm. I felt my limb return and wrapped it around her as well, completing the hug. The world flashed and we were surrounded by white.

Haruhi began to sob into my shoulder.

"Shh." I rubbed her back softly, leaning my head on hers, "It's going to be okay Haruhi… we'll fix this."


	13. Epilogue

It all started on what was supposed to be a weekend.

I use the term weekend very loosely now, considering as my very own brigade chief makes it her personal goal in life to make me miserable.

I didn't know that I'd end up meeting another version of myself.

I didn't know that Ryoko was still alive.

And I didn't know that I would die...

Or that there was something different about me.

I'm not just the boring high school kid I thought I was.

I suppose the beginning would be the appropriate place to start...

My first date with Haruhi.

**Cloud Strider Presents:**

**The Original of Haruhi Suzumiya**


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